UC-NRLF 


984k 


GIFT  OF 


OUR  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  THE 
NATION'S  BULWARK 


OR 


Proper  Child  Development  Means  a 
Better  Civilization 


WHY  WAS  MAN  CREATED? 


By 

JOHN  F.   MURRAY 
1916 


BOARI 

FRANK  B.  N 


L.  F 

F 

c.  c. 

SE( 

GEO.  H.  CL 
C.  N.  HAW 
C.  A.  BODV 
B.  F.  WALT 


OUR  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  THE 
NATION'S  BULWARK 


OR 


Proper  Child  Development  Means  a 
Better  Civilization 


WHY  WAS  MAN  CREATED? 


By 

JOHN    F.    MURRAY 
1916 


J.   F.  MURRAY 

2704  Dana  Street,   Berkeley,   California 
$1.00 


Dedicated  to  the  Children  of 
the  Earth,  and  the  Millions 
yet  Unborn  —  Without  Regard 
to  Color,  Country  or  Creed. 


360758 


PERSONAL  CHARACTER. 

A  sacred  burden  is  this  life  you  bear; 

Look  at  it  carefully,  bear  it  solemnly, 

Stand  up  and  walk  beneath  it  steadfastly, 

Falter  not  for   sorrow,  fail  not  for  sin, 

But  onward  and  upward  till  the  goal  you  win. 

— Frances  Anna  Kimble. 

The  wise  know  that  foolish  legislation  is  a  rope  of 
sand  which  perishes  in  the  twisting;  that  the  State  must 
follow  and  not  lead  the  character  and  progress  of  the 
citizen;  the  strongest  usurper  is  quickly  got  rid  of;  and 
they  only  who  build  on  Ideas,  build  for  eternity;  and 
that  the  form  of  government  which  prevails  is  the  ex- 
pression of  what  cultivation  exists  in  the  population 
which  permits  it.  The  law  is  only  a  memorandum.  We 
are  superstitious,  and  esteem  the  statute  somewhat;  so 
much  life  as  it  has  in  the  character  of  living  men  is  its 
force. — Emerson. 


CHEAP  MONEY  FOR  SCHOOLS 


CHEAP  MONEY  FOR  SCHOOL  PURPOSES. 

Some  years  ago  the  Federal  Government  established 
the  Postal  Savings  department.  There  is  nearly 
$100,000,000  in  the  fund  at  present,  and  it  is  growing 
rapidly. 

This  money  is  being  reloaned  to  the  people  at  2l/2 
per  cent,  per  annum  on  "Bonds  backed  by  the  taxing 
power."  School  bonds  are  thus  backed  and  are  being 
accepted  as  security  for  loans  from  this  fund,  but 
only  from  "National  banks,  State  banks,  local  banks 
or  trust  companies  doing  a  banking  business." 

Believing  that  the  future  good  of  the  Government 
demanded  proper  care  of  the  children,  I  saw  no  just 
reason  why  banks  should  step  in  and  take  from  the 
children  the  difference  between  2l/2  per  cent,  and  what 
we  now  pay  in  interest  on  our  school  bonds.  So  I 
prepared  an  amendment  to  the  present  law,  empower- 
ing school  district  trustees,  when  bonds  were  prop- 
erly voted,  to  go  to  the  Federal  trustees  of  the  postal 
fund  and  borrow  the  money  direct,  without  the  inter- 
vention of  any  bank  or  banking  institution.  This 
amendment  applies  only  to  school  district  bonds.  I 
do  not  want  to  make  it  a  general  commercial  propo- 
sition, I  only  want  the  children  to  get  the  benefit  of 
this  cheap  money. 

This  amendment  has  been  endorsed  by  our   State 


READ,    THINK,    ACT! 


Legislature,  our  county  superintendents  of  schools, 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  our  State  Federa- 
tion of  Labor,  every  banker  to  whom  I  have  presented 
the  matter,  every  State  Superintendent  of  Education 
to  whom  I  have  talked  (some  twenty),  every  editor 
whose  sanctum  I  have  penetrated,  as  well  as  by  the 
majority  of  Senators  and  Congressmen. 

In  San  Francisco  we  are  paying  $300,000  annual 
interest  on  our  school  bonds.  We  pay  5  per  cent.  If 
we  could  get  this  cheap  rate  it  would  save  us  $150,000 
without  costing  anyone  a  penny. 

And  the  benefit  San  Francisco  would  derive  from 
this  amendment  would  be  duplicated  (according  to 
the  amount  of  bonded  indebtedness)  by  every  dis- 
trict in  the  nation. 

It  would  be  like  dipping  water  from  a  running 
stream:  there  would  be  as  much  water  after  you 
clipped  as  there  was  before. 

The  child  is  father  to  the  man.  As  we  rear  our 
children  to  years  of  accountability,  mentally  and  mor- 
ally clean  or  vile,  so  will  be  politics,  government, 
business  and  society.  If  we  would  abolish  white 
slavery,  gambling,  drunkenness,  divorce,  all  man's  in- 
humanity to  his  fellow  man,  all  we  have  to  do  is  to 
care  for  the  children  in  a  complete  manner. 

I  have  been  asked  if  it  would  be  possible  for  a 
school  district  whose  bonds  were  already  issued  and 
sold  to  get  the  benefit  of  this  2^2  per  cent,  money, 

AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


Dr.  Wiley,  the  Pure  Food  Expert  and  Friend  of  Children,  Says 
Half  the  Children  Are  Undernourished.  Think  How  Much 
Good  This  2'/2  per  cent,  on  All  School  Bonds  Would  Do  If 
Put  Into  a  Fund  to  Give  Every  School  Child  a  Warm,  Hearty, 
Wholesome  Dinner.  How  Many  Children  Might  Be  Turned 
From  Our  Mills  and  Factories  to  Our  Schools 


READ,    THINK,    ACT! 


even  if  this  proposed  amendment  to  the  Postal  Sav- 
ings fund  were  passed.  Let  me  cite  a  specific  case, 
then  you  can  apply  the  same  reasoning  to  your  local 
district. 

Pittsburg,  California,  issued  and  sold  $55,000 
5  per  cent.  40-year  school  bonds.  It  was  intended 
to  erect  a  20-roomed  school  building.  The  estimated 
cost  fell  short.  The  lower  story  is  finished  and  oc- 
cupied, the  upper  story  uncompleted,  and  as  the  dis- 
trict is  bonded  to  the  limit  for  school  bonds,  the 
upper  story  is  likely  to  remain  unfinished  for  some 
years. 

By  reason  of  these  bonds  bearing  5  per  cent,  and 
running  for  40  years,  the  interest  thereon  is  equal 
to  twice  the  face  value  of  the  bonds ;  in  other  words, 
the  taxpayers  are  taxed  to  the  amount  of  $165,000 
to  pay  the  original  $55,000. 

Now,  let  us  assume  that  the  Federal  law  becomes 
amended  so  as  to  allow  school  districts  to  borrow 
money  direct  from  the  Postal  Savings  fund  just  as 
banks  now  do.  The  trustees  of  the  school  district 
could  go  to  a  local  bank  and  have  it  purchase  their 
bonds  from  the  present  holder.  The  trustees  could 
then  give  the  bank  personal  security,  take  their  bonds, 
deposit  them  at  the  postorfice,  get  the  money,  pay  the 
bank,  and  the  transaction  would  be  completed. 

At  present  the  district  is  paying  $2,750  annual  in- 
terest on  its  school  bonds.  By  transferring  these 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


10 

bonds  to  the  Federal  Government  it  would  save  $1,375 
each  year  for  40  years,  which,  deposited  in  a  bank  at 
interest,  would  more  than  meet  the  original  bond  issue 
of  $55,000.  And  the  upper  story  of  their  school 
building  could  be  finished  at  once.  All  this  vast 
benefit  would  not  cost  the  taxpayer  one  additional 
penny. 

Some  persons  seem  to  think  that  school  bonds  han- 
dled by  a  bank  would  necessarily  be  better  secured. 
The  folly  of  such  an  idea  is  plain  when  we  know 
that  hundreds  of  banks  fail  for  every  school  district 
that  fails.  Then  when  you  consider  that  a  school 
bond  is  a  mortgage  against  the  entire  property  of  the 
district,  and  school  bonds  cannot  exceed  5  per  cent, 
of  the  property  valuation,  you  learn  that  there  is  no 
better  security  issued  than  school  district  bonds.  And 
should  a  district  suspend,  the  bonds  still  remain  as 
a  mortgage  against  the  real  property  of  the  district. 

If  you  favor  getting  this  2^  per  cent,  money  for 
our  schools,  write  to  your  Congressman  about  it.  I 
have  carried  on  this  fight  single-handed  for  two  years. 
There  must  be  organization,  a  united  effort. 


READ,   THINK,    ACT 


WILL  HISTORY  REPEAT  ITSELF? 


WILL  HISTORY  REPEAT  ITSELF? 

America,  thy  bulwarks  should  be  thy  people's  hearts, 
Thy  might  their  moral  strength. 


In  the  course  of  human  events  the  United  States 
has  come  into  the  leadership  of  the  world.  Every 
nation  on  the  earth  is  looking  to  us  in  lively  hopes 
that  we  may  find  a  way  out  of  the  many  vexing  ques- 
tions of  the  times.  California  cannot  escape  being 
the  banner-bearer  and  drummer-boy. 

The  march  of  empire  westward  has  circled  the 
globe.  The  OLD  civilization  and  the  NEW  civilization 
face  each  other  across  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  battle 
of  Armageddon  is  inevitable  and  imminent.  The 
Asiatic  hordes  sweeping  across  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
and  the  European  hordes  rushing  through  the  Pan- 
ama Canal,  will  find  the  many  undeveloped  natural 
resources  of  California  as  attractive  as  flies  find  a 
molasses  barrel.  We  cannot  escape  becoming  the 
battle-ground.  Here  will  be  shed  the  blood  and  tears 
of  a  dying  civilization,  or  here  will  be  opened  the 
doorway  of  opportunity  to  the  best  civilization  the 
world  has  ever  seen. 

It  rests  largely  with  the  women  of  California 
whether  this  war  will  be  one  of  brute  force,  such  ai 
is  now  devastating  Europe,  or  a  battle  of  brains  and 
heart. 

California  is  peculiarly  situated  to  make  this  final 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


13 

contest  between  the  right  ideals  and  the  wrong  ones, 
between  selfish  greed  and  brotherly  kindness.  Cali- 
fornia is  not  yet  cursed  with  any  very  large  cities. 
By  the  natural  conditions  of  business  competition, 
selfishness  flourishes  and  corruption  runs  riot.  Where 
great  multitudes  of  people  are  striving  to  gain  the 
same  object,  whether  selling  goods,  seeking  office  or 
looking  for  work,  competition  breeds  selfishness,  and 
selfishness  is  the  foundation  of  corruption  and  sin. 

Since  the  world  began,  large  cities  have  ever  been 
cesspools  of  vice  and  crime.  History  informs  us  that 
about  every  nation  gone  before  had  a  strong  move- 
ment from  the  farm  to  the  cities  just  before  the  na- 
tion fell.  This  was  occasioned  by  the  fact  that  the 
scattered  farmers  could  not  organize  as  closely  as  the 
business  men  who  met  daily  and  consulted  about  how 
to  get  the.  most  out  of  the  masses.  Governments 
having  the  power  to  coin  money,  and  regulate  the 
value  thereof,  and  the  sum  of  the  demands  for  money 
being  equal  to  the  sum  of  the  demands  for  all  other 
things,  to  regulate  the  volume  of  money  in  circulation 
meant  the  power  to  say  what  the  farmer  could  ask 
for  his  produce  as  well  as  fixing  the  price  he  should 
pay  for  what  he  purchased.  Thus  the  business 
world,  by  controlling  politics,  could  farm  the  farmer. 
No  wonder  farmers  desired  to  join  the  ranks  of 
politicians. 

The  establishment  of  each  nation  that  ever  existed 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


14 

was  on  the  basis  of  equal  rights  to  all.  Soon  brainy, 
aggressive  men  in  devious  ways  acquired  possession 
of  the  natural  resources  of  the  country.  When  the 
masses  awoke  to  the  conditions,  it  was  too  late  to  do 
anything  but  institute  reprisal.  Privilege-holders,  to 
retain  their  ill-gotten  gains,  began  corrupting  leaders 
of  the  people  and  also  coercing  the  masses.  Then 
followed  class  wars  and  national  decay. 

Look  closely  into  the  actions  of  the  nations  of  the 
earth  to-day,  even  before  the  present  war,  and  you 
will  find  NO  stability  of  public  opinion,  and  but  LITTLE 
stability  of  private  opinion.  Their  legislatures,  their 
courts,  even  their  churches,  are  drifting — all  are  being 
tossed  about  on  a  sea  of  doubt  and  uncertainty. 

And  yet  there  never  was  a  time  when  so  many 
brainy,  big-hearted  men  and  women  were  devoting 
their  time  and  money  to  the  betterment  of  the  people. 
Why,  then,  do  we  fail?  Because  of  our  neglect  of 
the  children.  As  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree  inclines. 
With  30,000,000  children  of  school  age  in  the  nation 
and  less  than  13,000,000  daily  average  attendance  at 
school,  we  are  compelled  to  exclaim  with  the  poet: 

"Oh,  ye  blind  and  selfish  freemen,  boasting  of  your  land 

and  time, 

While  the  children  soak  and  blacken  soul  and  sense  in 
filth  and  crime." 

As  the  child  is  the  seed  from  which  conies  every 
human  activity,  and  as  the  public-  school  is  the  only 
institution  in  the  nation  that  lays  a  guiding  hand  on 


READ,   THINK,   ACT! 


16 

the  head  of  every  child,  proper  school  conditions 
should  be  the  first  consideration  of  the  Government. 

It  is  almost  universally  acknowledged  that  our 
present  school  conditions  and  methods  are  largely 
failures.  This  was  strongly  emphasized  by  many 
teachers  of  national  reputation  at  the  recent  session 
of  the  National  Education  Association  held  in  Oak- 
land, California.  And  every  person  interested  should 
be  earnestly  seeking  to  find  out  where  the  fault  lies. 

Every  person,  no  matter  what  his  or  her  financial 
standing  or  political  or  religious  belief,  wishes  well 
of  every  child,  and  hopes  to  see  it  get  every  possible 
development  that  will  fit  it  for  its  life  work.  And 
so  I  come  to  you  with  a  message — the  tale  of  the  In- 
dian schools,  the  best  child-developing  system  the 
world  has  ever  seen. 

Habit  is  the  strongest  of  human  characteristics.  It 
can  grapple  with  love  and  trample  it  into  the  dirt. 
A  drunkard  or  dope  fiend  may  sincerely  love  his  wife 
and  babies,  yet  when  habit  calls  the  loved  ones  are 
neglected. 

We  might  liken  the  forming  of  habit  to  a  cement 
sidewalk.  When  the  cement  is  first  laid  a  tiny  kitten 
walking  across  it  will  leave  indelible  marks,  but  a 
short  time  later  an  elephant  walking  across  it  will 
leave  no  track.  The  time  to  form  a  nation's  charac- 
ter is  in  the  childhood  of  the  people.  It  is  seldom 


READ,   THINK,   ACT! 


17 

you  see  an  old  man  change  his  politics  or  an  old 
woman  change  her  religion. 

There  are  in  this  country  50,000,000  minors.  Where 
is  this  on-marching,  ever-increasing  army,  such  as 
the  world  never  dreamed  of,  going?  Will  they  fill 
happy  homes,  or  insane  asylums,  jails  and  brothels? 
With  these  children  properly  cared  for,  nothing  in 
after  life  could  drive  them  into  selfish,  wolfish  living. 

Let  us  always  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  omission 
of  duty  is  equal  to  sin.  Thus  will  the  makers  of 
public  opinion  and  the  guardians  of  the  children — the 
President  and  Congress,  Governors  and  State  Legis- 
latures, mayors  and  city  councils,  preachers,  teachers 
and  schools  officials — find  their  souls  smeared  with 
the  blood  and  debauchery  of  their  times  if  they  do 
not  put  forth  every  possible  effort  to  bring  about  just 
conditions  for  child-development. 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


18 


"Our  public  school  education  is  inefficient  and 
flabby."— Ex-President  Taft. 

"Our  schools  to-day  spoil  the  child  instead  of  de- 
veloping it." — Mrs.  Macy,  the  teacher  of  Helen 
Keller. 

"I  agree  with  Mrs.  Macy,  'the  lock-step'  system  of 
child-development  should  be  abolished." — Dr.  Frederic 
Burk,  president  of  San  Francisco  State  Normal. 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


COMING  SCHOOL  SYSTEM 


THE  COMING  SCHOOL  SYSTEM. 

What  humanity  needs  more  than  anything-  else  is 
fair  dealing  between  men.  Yet  under  our  present 
condition  of  business  morals  we  cannot  expect  that 
men  will  give  up  all  hope  of  personal  betterment  for 
community  good.  And  so  in  trying  to  bring  about  a 
better  condition  of  politics  and  business  and  society 
we  must  take  into  consideration  conditions  as  they 
are  as  well  as  what  they  should  be.  Let  us 

Look  into  the  future  far  as  human  mind  can  see, 
Note  the  glories  of  the  world  and  all  the  wonders  that 

would  be 
If  each  child  had  proper  guidance,  and   selfishness  was 

slain 
In    a    brotherhood    of    man,    where     righteousness     did 

reign. 

As  the  future  status  of  government,  politics,  busi- 
ness and  society  will  be  determined  by  our  present 
treatment  of  the  children,  it  is  evident  that  proper 
child-conservation  is  the  paramount  issue  with  free 
government,  and  as  the  public  school  is  the  child's 
developing-ground,  we  must  give  our  school  system 
more  careful  consideration  than  it  has  heretofore  re- 
ceived. Our  schools  must  be  made  so  attractive  that 
they  will  hold  the  attention  of  each  child  in  the  school- 
room or  on  the  playground.  They  must  reach  every 


READ,   THINK,   ACT! 


21 

child,  the  weak  and  wayward,  so  that  all  will  find 
pleasure  and  profit  in  attending  school. 

The  coming  school  must  conform  in  full  to  the 
laws  of  nature.  The  man  or  institution  that  tram- 
ples on  nature's  laws  is  defying  the  creative  power 
and  will  certainly  fail.  The  man  who  obeys  natural 
laws  will  reach  old  age  hale  and  hearty,  while  the 
person  who  tramples  on  those  laws  will,  while  yet  in 
his  youth,  find  himself  pain-wracked  and  decrepit. 

Man  has  free  will.  Devils  may  entice,  angels  may 
implore,  but  man  can  act  according  to  his  desire. 
Too  many  speakers  and  writers  confuse  the  minds 
of  the  people  by  classing  free-will  and  foreordination 
as  antagonists  when  they  are  as  the  two  blades  of  a 
pair  of  shears.  Used  jointly  they  cut  out  a  clean, 
straight  path  for  man's  guidance.  Used  separately 
each  fails. 

"We   feel   sorry  for  our  merchants,   bankers  and  million- 
aires, 
Our   workers   and   our    shirkers,   with   their    worries   and 

their  cares, 

Our    teachers,    preachers,    statisticians, 
Lawyers,   doctors,   politicians, — 

Yet  the  farmer  is  the  man  who  feeds  them  all." 

From  the  ground  comes  everything  needed  for  the 
sustenance  of  man.  So  if  we  are  going  to  work  with 
nature  we  will  acknowledge  the  farmer  as  the  leader 
and  counsellor  of  state,  and  his  wife  as  the  first  lady 
of  the  land. 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


22 

As  the  home  is  the  place  to  rear  children  the 
coming  school  must  have  a  home-farm  environment. 
Where  a  man  and  woman  are  happily  mated  there  is 
the  nearest  heaven  on  earth  the  mind  of  man  can 
conceive.  The  child  needs  both  the  firm  guidance  of 
a  father  and  the  enduring  love  and  patience  of  a 
mother  to  develop  in  it  the  best  characteristics. 

Select  eighty  or  one  hundred  acres  of  ground  for 
a  school  site.  Erect  thereon  a  large,  roomy  house. 
Then  have  the  present  teacher  get  married  and  live 
in  this  school-home.  Pay  both  husband  and  wife  a 
salary.  Employ  them  for  life,  the  parents  of  the 
district  alone  having  the  power  to  remove.  Then 
teaching  would  assume  its  rightful  place  among  the 
professions.  Sickness  and  old  age  having  been  pro- 
vided for,  these  parent-teachers  would  devote  all  their 
energy  and  brain-power  to  the  development  of  the 
children,  and  through  them  the  development  of  the 
community. 

Erect  a  many-roomed  schoolhouse,  a  barn,  stable, 
chicken-coop,  hog-pen  and  other  needed  buildings 
and  fill  them  with  live  stock.  Then  will  the  school 
be  a  real  child-developing  home  and  the  grounds  be 
the  most  attractive  in  the  neighborhood. 

A  dairy,  hog-ranch  and  chicken-yard  will  be 
started.  A  ten-acre  grove  and  a  ten-acre  fruit-field 
will  be  planted  and  soon  becoming  productive  will 
help  make  the  school  self-supporting.  A  dynamo  for 


READ,    THINK,    ACT! 


23 


producing  electricity  will  be  installed.  Then  each 
farmer  can  get  cheap  electricity  for  light,  heat  and 
power.  This  also  will  add  to  the  income  of  the 
school.  Picture  250,000  such  home-farm  school  cen- 
ters in  this  nation.  What  a  universal  uplift ! 

Thus  would  much  of  the  drudgery  be  lifted  from 
the  backs  of  farmers'  wives  and  daughters.  In  hot 
weather,  instead  of  standing  over  a  hot  stove  for 
hours  cooking,  the  women  would  prepare  the  meats 
and  vegetables  in  a  cool  room.  When  all  was  ready 
the  electricity  would  be  turned  on  and  in  a  short 
time  the  meal  would  be  cooked  and  the  current 
turned  off. 

The   men   coming   hot    and   dusty    from   the   fields 


The   District   Pleasure   Ground   in   the  Coming  School   System 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


24 

would  step  into  the  wash-room,  turn  on  the  shower 
bath,  cleanse  and  cool  their  bodies,  put  on  a  change 
of  linen  and  go  into  the  dining-room  in  comfort, 
where  the  cool  atmosphere  would  exhilarate  both  body 
and  brains.  Do  not  say,  "bosh,"  "visionary,"  but  re- 
member that  all  things  are  possible  that  we  set  our 
minds  to.  Also  remember  that  we  do  not  act  beyond 
our  thinking,  so  if  we  wish  to  bring  about  a  bet- 
ter condition  we  must  think  deeply  and  clearly. 

Do  you   hear  the  children   crying,  oh,   my  brothers, 

Ere   their  sorrows  come  with  years? 
They  are  leaning  their  young  heads  against  their  mothers, 

But  that   cannot  stop   their  tears. 

— Browning. 

Every  orphan  in  the  school  district  will  live  at  the 
school-home  as  one  of  the  teachers'  own  children. 
Not  as  charity,  but  as  a  future  community  asset  be- 
yond prke.  If  professing  Christians  will  take  liter- 
ally Christ's  saying  that  the  soul  of  any  person,  per- 
Ifjaps  a  hungry,  ragged,  foul-mouthed  child,  is  of 
rjiore  value  than  all  the  land,  water,  railroads,  com- 
merce, money  and  banks  in  the  whole  world,  we  will 
get  busy  giving  the  children  a  chance. 

With  a  home-farm  school  established  in  every  school 
district  in  the  nation,  the  present  outrageous  and  de- 
grading conditions  of  child  labor,  child  poverty  and 
child  idleness  will  be  shut  off  forever  and  to  the 
full.  Keep  in  mind  that  child  idleness  is  as  detri- 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


t 


25 

mental  to  the  child's  moral  nature  as  overwork  is  to 
its  physical  body. 

Think  of  the  uplifting  influence  of  such  a  school 
system — every  child  well  fed,  warmly  clothed,  its 
little  brains  and  body  washed  clean  by  words  and 
water,  then  tucked  into  bed  each  night  with  a  kiss 
and  a  smile.  At  present  too  many  of  them  go  to 
bed  dirty  and  hungry  with  a  curse  and  a  kick  as 
their  nightly  benediction.  Men  and  women,  will  you 
pt  help  change  this  condition? 

A  school  established  as  above,  with  ten  acres  of 
grapes,  apples,  nuts,  or  citrus  fruit  would  be  prac- 
tically self-supporting.  This  would  save  the  tax- 
payers much  of  the  money  now  used  for  public  edu- 
cation, as  well  as  considerable  of  that  spent  to  gov- 
ern us.  There  would  be  less  need  for  police  and 
courts,  jails  and  penitentiaries,  insane  asylums  and 
reformatories  if  all  children  were  properly  developed. 

Every  Saturday  afternoon  would  be  given  over 
to  amusement.  There  would  be  a  contest  of  some 
kind  between  local  schools,  the  visiting  school  to 
bring  its  band,  while  the  home  school  furnished  light 
refreshments  during  the  afternoon,  as  well  as  a  sub- 
stantial meal  in  the  evening. 

As  every  young  man  and  woman  in  the  district 
would  belong  to  the  band  and  athletic  clubs  of  the 
school,  the  entire  family  would  enjoy  every  school 
entertainment.  Thus  would  the  homes  and  school 

AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


26 


be  brought  into  the  very  closest  relationship,  which 
is  something  devoutly  to  be  wished. 

All  members  of  every  family  rinding  their  greatest 
pleasure  on  the  home-school  grounds,  the  false  pleas- 
ures of  the  city  would  lose  attraction. 

In   this    home-farm    school    every   child    would    re- 


A  Playground  in  the  Coming  School  System 

ceive  its  completest  possible  physical,  mental,  moral 
development.  Here  each  child  would  gain  the 
strength  of  character  attained  by  rural  environment 
as  well  as  the  intellectuality  received  at  our  best  city 
schools. 

In  such  a  home- farm  school  girls  would  get  real 
home  training  until  the  school  re-established  real 
home  life.  Home  making  is  the  greatest  business 


READ,    THINK,    ACT! 


27 

on  earth.  It  is  the  foundation  of  contentment  and 
happiness.  The  man  who  stays  at  home  in  the  eve- 
ning, smoking  and  pottering  about  the  yard,  finds 
himself  in  good  physical  and  mental  condition  to 
do  the  next  day's  work. 

But  how  can  our  daughters  make  happy  homes 
for  their  husbands  and  children  if  they  know  noth- 
ing about  house  keeping  and  have  to  depend  on 
hired  help  who  very  likely  know  even  less  than 
does  the  mistress? 

The  question  of  providing  a  few  weeks'  outing* 
for  sickly  children  and  tired  mothers  would  here 
be  met  to  the  full.  The  large  swimming-pool  in 
the  grove,  providing  for  girls  as  well  as  boys, 
would  make  every  idle  hour  an  outing  for  chil- 
dren, while  every  evening  would  be  an  outing  for 
all  parents.  With  the  young  people  in  the  school- 
room singing,  spelling  or  debating,  or  the  band 
playing  in  the  park  and  the  children  playing 
about,  parents  would  sit  and  smoke  and  gossip  in 
complete  contentment.  And  all  this  without  our 
wives  and  mothers  going  away  from  home  leaving 
us  men  discontented  and  grouchy. 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


28 

"There  is  no  disguising  the  fact  that  we  have  a 
most  difficult  problem  in  the  United  States — and  I 
can  not  believe  it  is  ours  alone — in  the  rural  com- 
munity. A  majority  of  our  school  children  are  in 
rural  schools.  The  query  arises,  Are  our  rural  schools 
doing  their  part  in  making  life  in  the  country 
desirable  ? 

"The  old-fashioned  one-roomed  schoolhouse,  which 
holds  forty  or  fifty  ungraded  pupils,  having  but  a 
single  teacher  who  knows  nothing  but  books,  is  not 
a  modern  institution,  though  great  men  have  issued 
from  its  door. 

"How  can  the  schools  of  a  country  be  so  co- 
ordinated and  combined  as  to  make  them  efficient 
tools  ? 

"The  teachers,  the  superintendents  and  the  school 
boards  need  leadership;  they  need  an  authoritative 
statement  of  conclusions  by  the  wisest  and  most  prac- 
tical men  in  the  land ;  they  need  to  be  shown  the 
better  way.  And  with  even  as  little  as  $100,000  a 
year  for  two  or  three  years  we  could,  I  believe,  con- 
duct a  Federal  campaign  through  the  Bureau  of 
Education  for  a  new  kind  of  rural  school  that  would 
work  little  less  than  a  revolution  in  rural  life."- 
Franklin  K.  Lane,  Secretary  of  Interior. 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


INDIAN  SCHOOLS 


OUR  INDIAN  SCHOOLS. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  I  wrote  about  a  pos- 
sible school  system.  Now  I  shall  show  you  that 
all  I  told  you  about  in  that  article  I  have  seen 
in  the  Indian  schools  of  this  nation. 

At  Pine  Ridge  agency,  South  Dakota,  there  are 
thirty-three  day  schools.  Each  child  is  given  two 
suits  of  clothing,  two  suits  of  underwear,  shoes, 
gloves,  hats,  etc.,  every  year  with  a  warm,  whole- 
some dinner  every  day. 

Each  school  is  established  on  a  plot  of  ground 
eighty  or  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  in  extent. 
A  five  or  six-roomed  cottage  is  erected.  A  three- 
roomed  schoolhouse,  barn,  stable,  hog-pens  and 
chicken-coops  are  erected.  A  man  and  his  wife 
are  employed  for  life,  at  least  so  long  as  they 
keep  up  with  the  advancement  of  the  community. 
Each  is  paid  a  salary.  The  school  grounds  soon 
become  so  attractive  that  the  children  hasten 
thereto  in  the  morning  and  are  loth  to  depart 
therefrom  in  the  evening. 

These  teachers  have  learned  the  lesson  that 
whoever  lives  close  to  nature  is  not  apt  to  become 
vile,  and  so  they  lead  their  pupils  into  close  com- 
munion with  nature  through  gardening,  caring  for 
stock,  etc. 

This  school  gardening  has  brought  about  a  won- 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


31 

derful  change  in  the  home  life  of  these  Indians, 
who  were  the  last  to  submit  to  governmental  au- 
thority. They  did  not  take  readily  to  farming, 
their  lives  having  been  spent  in  roaming  at  will 
over  the  plains.  But  as  the  children  learned  to 
cook  and  eat  the  vegetables  they  themselves  had 
raised,  they  talked  so  much  and  were  so  enthusi- 
astic about  their  school  meal  that  the  old  folks 
have  taken  to  farming.  Every  Indian  family  that 
has  a  child  in  school  has  a  small  field  under  culti- 
vation. They  have  gardens,  hogs,  chickens  and  cows. 

If  this  Indian  school  system  is  doing  so  much 
for  these  children,  who  will  never  become  out- 
leaders,  what  might  it  not  do  for  the  white  children 
who  soon  will  be  our  rulers  in  politics,  business, 
and  society? 

Such  noticeable  child  growth  makes  enthusiasts 
of  teachers.  At  school  No.  4,  the  .teachers,  Air.  and 
Mrs.  Fisher,  are  very  wealthy;  they  could  live  in 
idleness  all  their  lives,  yet  their  work  holds  them 
with  the  same  grip  that  horticulture  holds  a 
gardener.  It  is  an  inspiring  sight  to  see  Mr. 
Fisher  in  the  garden  with  his  coat  and  collar  off, 
his  sleeves  rolled  up,  leading  the  work  with  such 
intelligent  enthusiasm  that  the  task  becomes  play 
to  the  pupils. 

My  visit  to  No.  5  was  just  at  noon.  Mr.  Mc- 
Laughlin  was  busy  in  the  school  room  and  Mrs. 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


33 

McLaughlin  was  conducting  a  class  in  domestic  sci- 
ence, while  the  girls  prepared  the  meal.  On  the 
kitchen  table  was  a  baking  of  bread  and  pies  fit  for 
any  man's  table.  I  announced  my  delight  at  such 
pastry.  Mrs.  McLaughlin  called  to  a  thirteen-year- 
old  Indian  maiden,  introduced  me,  and  informed  me 
she  was  the  baker  for  the  day. 

My  visit  to  No.  11  was  on  a  field  day.  All  the 
teachers  and  matrons  for  forty  miles  around  were 
there.  It  gave  me  a  splendid  opportunity  to  get 
acquainted  with  the  various  ideas  and  individualities 
of  these  teachers.  This  school,  taken  all  in  all,  is 
my  ideal.  Mr.  Bragance  is  an  enthusiastic  farmer, 
the  pupils  take  great  delight  in  their  work  as  he 
conducts  it.  The  daughter  is  an  expert  musician. 
She  plays  the  organ  to  measure  time  while  the  pupils 
sing,  march  in  and  out  of  school,  or  have  physical 
culture  on  rainy  days.  But  the  leader  of  leaders  is 
Mrs.  Bragance.  Her  Heart  yearns  after  the  children's 
souls,  she  gives  herself  to  them,  and  so,  love  beget- 
ting love,  the  little  Indian  children  cling  to  her  skirts 
as  to  a  mother's,  their  eyes  follow  her  in  adoration. 
Her  slightest  wish  is  their  law. 

Man  is  as  the  sunshine,  woman  as  the  rain.  Too 
much  sunshine  without  rain  and  the  land  becomes 
parched  and  dry.  Too  much  rain  and  the  land  be- 
comes soft  and  mushy.  Any  old-timer  can  tell  you 
about  the  time  when  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  was  a 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


34 

great  stretch  of  dry,  sandy  soil.  But  when  the 
mountain  waters  were  conserved  and  carried  on  to 
the  soil,  this  great  valley,  hundreds  of  miles  long, 
blossomed  as  a  tropical  garden,  with  flowers,  vegeta- 
tion and  fruit  trees.  All  because  water  and  sunshine 
joined  forces.  And  thus  it  will  be  with  our  civiliza- 
tion when  our  school  system  becomes  a  home-farm 
school  system. 

At  Independence,  California,  school  is  conducted 
most  of  the  time  out  of  doors.  There  is  a  fine  lawn, 
well  grassed  and  comfortably  seated.  This  teacher 
holds  that  in  a  room  ever  so  well  ventilated,  the 
child  must  inhale  much  foul  breath  that  may  come 
from  diseased  lungs,  nasal  tubes  or  stomachs  which 
other  children  may  have.  Out  in  the  fresh  air  this 
is  not  so.  But  the  big  result  is  that  the  child's 
eyes  resting  on  the  natural  shading  of  grass,  leaves, 
flowers  and  clouds  are  rested  and  strengthened  in- 
stead of  being  weakened  and  tired  and  thus  dis- 
tressing every  nerve  of  the  body.  If,  for  any  rea- 
son, the  children  get  a  bit  restless,  the  teacher  gives 
them  a  physical  culture  lesson.  She  leads  them  into 
the  garden  where  the  older  children  take  garden 
hand-plows,  the  smaller  children  take  rakes  and 
hoes.  After  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  of  such  play, 
their  excess  physical  vitality  being  worked  off,  they 
return  to  their  book  work  mentally  alert  and  physi- 
cally contented.  It  is  indeed  wonderful  what  de- 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


35 

vclr,p:r!tnt  we  can  give  children  if  we  take  them  early 
in  childhood  and  lead,  not  drive,  them. 

At  Carson  City,  Nevada,  I  saw  many  little  Indian 
tots  playing  about  the  school  grounds.  As  it  was  va- 
cation time  I  asked  the  Superintendent  why  these 
children  were  not  at  home.  He  replied  that  the 
school  took  care  of  every  orphan  in  its  jurisdiction, 
at  the  school,  as  one  of  the  faculty's  children. 

At  Riverside,  California,  I  learned  that  the  Super- 
intendent had  secured  work  for  seventy-five  of  the 
older  Indian  girls  in  the  best  Christian  homes  in  the 
two  counties  during  vacation.  Thus  they  were  en- 
abled to  earn  some  money  for  themselves  while  get- 
ting an  insight  into  real  home  life.  This  idea  of 
helping  the  pupils  is  carried  out  at  every  Indian 
college,  and  boys  are  secured  positions  with  farmers 
or  business  men  who  are  engaged  in  the  lines  of 
work  the  boys  wish  to  follow  for  a  life  work. 

At  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  I  was  informed  that 
when  a  mechanic  left  that  school  he  could  go  at  once 
to  work  for  the  Pennsylvania  railroad,  with  the  as- 
surance of  steady  employment.  When  a  young  man 
leave-  that  school  he  is  given  a  kit  of  tools  such  as 
his  work  will  require,  he  is  secured  a  position  and 
for  years  the  faculty  keeps  up  a  correspondence  with 
him.  Thus  he  feels  that  others  care  for  him,  that  he 
is  of  -  -)me  importance  in  the  world,  and  he  is  thereby 
much  strengthened  in  character. 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


37 

Indian  teachers  give  their  pupils  all  the  responsi- 
bility they  can  maintain.  They  hold  that  recognized 
responsibility  develops  character.  I  once  visited  an 
Indian  school  where  I  found  the  teacher  conducting 
a  class  in  arithmetic.  He  stepped  to  a  bell  and 
tapped  thereon,  a  number  of  small  Indians  left  the 
school  room  and  went  into  the  domestic  science  room. 
I  soon  followed  them.  I  found  an  older  pupil  in- 
structing a  number  of  smaller  pupils  in  their  let- 
ters. The  lesson  was  being  conducted  with  dignity 
and  decorurh.  This  pupil-teacher  was  a  tower  of 
strength  to  the  regular  teacher. 

Some  people  question  if  such  conditions  could  be 
brought  about  in  our  public  schools.  I  want  to  most 
emphatically  state  that  we  can  lead  the  children 
wherever  we  wish  if  we  will  start  early  enough  with 
them  and  use  judgment  and  patience.  I  saw  the  In- 
dian boys  and  girls  hurry  to  their  field  work  with 
the  same  enthusiasm  that  our  white  children  hurry 
to  their  play.  What  young  children  need  most  is 
just  the  privilege  to  play  and  grow  in  beautiful, 
peaceful  home  surroundings. 

I  have  been  asked  if  such  a  home-farm  school 
system  would  not  be  very  expensive.  First,  as  to 
maintenance,  I  will  show  in  my  next  chapter  that 
it  is  almost  self-sustaining.  In  comparison  with  our 
universities  the  cost  is  almost  nil.  As  to  the  estab- 
lishing of  the  500,000  such  schools  needed,  if  we 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


38 

can  get  the  Federal  Government  to  stand  for  the  con- 
servation of  children  as  it  now  stands  for  the  con- 
servation of  mu dholes  and  waste  lands,  it  will  not 
cost  one  cent,  save  interest  for  twenty  years.  We 
can  buy  the  land,  erect  all  needed  buildings,  install 
the  dynamo  and  pumping  plant  as  wrell  as  make  the 
needed  improvements  without  a  dollar  expense  to 
anyone. 

Let  a  school  district  issue  its  20-year  5  per  cent, 
bonds  under  proper  regulations.  Have  the  Federal 
Government  take  these  bonds,  at  the  end  of  twenty 
years  the  Government  to  return  the  bonds  to  the  dis- 
trict without  cost.  The  Government  is  not  out  a 
cent  on  the  transaction  as  the  interest  for  twenty 
years  at  5  per  cent,  pays  it  back,  and  the  people  are 
not  out  anything  to  purchase  the  grounds,  buildings 
and  improvements,  as  the  Government  has  returned 
its  bonds  without  cost  to  .the  district.  All  we  need 
in  this  school-developing  system  is  to  get  the  Gov- 
ernment to  stand  for  the  children. 

These  ideas,  being  out  of  the  realm  of  your  previ- 
ous thought,  will  seem-  a  bit  big  'and  difficult  to 
accomplish,  but  let  me  tell  you,  the  people  get  just 
what  they  are  capable  of  thinking  out  to  a  logical 
conclusion  and  then  demanding  and  working  for.  Do 
not  be  afraid  to  investigate  an  idea. 


READ,    THINK,    ACT! 


INDIAN  vs.  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


INDIAN  SCHOOLS  vs.  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 

I  now  come  to  the  point  where  I  will  show  you 
the  meager  cost  of  maintaining  an  Indian  college 
compared  with  our  universities,  and  the  superiority 
of  the  Indian  school  education.  I  shall  compare  the 
two  systems,  not  in  antagonism  to  the  public  schools, 
but  as  comparisons  are  usually  illuminating  I  hope 
to  arouse  such  a  public  outcry  that  our  leading  edu- 
cators and  lawmakers  will  investigate,  which  I  feel 
certain  would  result  in  bettering  our  public  school 
system. 

When  I  was  at  Albuquerque,  New  Mexico,  the 
National  Commissioner  of  Education  delivered  an 
inspiring  address.  I  thought  to  myself,  "Here  is  an 
opportunity  to  get  a  bit  of  widespread  publicity." 
After  the  meeting  was  over  I  spoke  to  Dr.  Claxton 
and  asked  him  to  go  with  me  to  visit  the  University 
and  the  Indian  College.  He  consented. 

I  got  into  touch  with  Dr.  Perry,  head  of  the  In- 
dian College ;  with  Dr.  Boyd,  head  of  the  University, 
and  with  Mr.  White,  State  Superintendent  of  Schools 
of  New  Mexico.  The  next  morning  the  five  of  us 
visited  the  two  educational  institutions.  While  at 
the  University  we  learned  that  that  institution  had  a 
registration  of  ninety-nine,  with  an  available  school 
fund  for  the  year  of  $55,000.  At  the  Indian  College 
we  learned  that  that  school  had  a  registration  of  450, 

READ,    THINK,    ACT! 


41 

with  an  available  school  fund  of  $68,000.  Here  was 
a  great  difference  in  favor  of  the  Indian  school.  But 
when  we  learned  that  the  Indian  College  fed,  clothed 
and  housed  its  pupils  the  comparison  was  almost 
beyond  understanding. 

Now,  parents  and  taxpayers,  the  difference  was 
not  in  graft  nor  inefficiency.  Dr.  Boyd  is  a  capable 
and  honest  man.  But  this  tremendous  difference 
is  in  the  system.  At  the  Indian  College  the  pupils 
who  intend  to  follow  farming,  produce  much  of  the 
table  supplies  while  learning  their  lessons.  The 
young  men  who  wish  to  become  mechanics  study  their 
work  both  at  the  bench  and  from  books.  One  result 
of  this  practical  development  was  seen  in  a  girls' 
dormitory,  just  finished,  which  cost  the  taxpayers 
$12,000.  This  building  if  erected  by  the  University 
would  cost  about  $35,000.  The  difference  in  cost  lies 
in  the  fact  that  the  Indian  pupils,  while  learning  the 
finishing  touches  to  their  work,  did  all  the  masonry, 
carpentry,  plastering,  plumbing,  and  built  the  fur- 
nishings, etc. 

After  •  a  long  life  spent  in  hoping  to  help  the 
working  people,  I  am  fully  convinced  that  the  public 
school  must  fit  the  child  for  meeting  its  life's  work. 
This  must  not  be  done  by  a  school  here  and  there,  as 
is  now  being  done,  but  it  must  become  a  part  of  the 
school  curriculum  and  of  universal  application. 

Always  bear  in  mind  that  the  child  is  as  a  tripod, 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


42 


break  any  leg  of  the  instrument  and  it  falls  to  the 
ground.  Develop  a  man  mentally  brilliant  but  mor- 
ally weak  and  he  becomes  a  cruel  grinder  of  other 
men's  faces.  Develop  a  man  morally  strong  but  men- 
tally weak  and  he  becomes  an  easy  mark  for  every 
human  hyena  he  meets. 

Let  us  take  up  again,  for  a  short  time,  free-will 
and  foreordination.  Let  us  keep  firmly  in  mind  that 
the  person  or  institution  that  defies  nature  and  tram- 
ples on  her  laws  is  defying  God,  and  consequently 


Scene  at  a  Washington   Indian  School 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


43 

will  certainly  fail.  Such  action  is  a  terrible,  irrepara- 
ble mistake. 

The  first  law  of  childhood  is  activity.  The  minute 
a  child  is  born  nature  tells  it  to  cry,  to  cry  loudly 
so  as  to  fill  its  lungs  with  air ;  and  to  thrash  its  legs 
and  arms  about,  to  wriggle  its  toes  and  fingers,  thus 
starting  the  blood  to  flowing. 

The  minute  the  public  school  gets  its  hands  on  a 
child  it  flouts  nature,  it  compels  the  child  to  assume 
a  prison-like  rigidity  or  be  punished  as  a  law-breaker. 
The  day  may  be  hot,  the  air  close  and  sultry,  the 
teacher,  matured  in  body  and  brain,  has  to  move 
about  to  keep  awake.  But  the  child  must  sit  still 
or  receive  punishment.  And  so  the  child  comes  to 
hate  the  teacher,  to  dread  the  school,  and  to  despise 
the  laws  of  the  land. 

The  Indian  school  works  in  harmony  with  nature. 
If  a  child  gets  sleepy  the  mother-teacher  takes  it  in 
her  arms,  carries  it  out  of  doors  into  the  grove,  lays 
it  down  on  the  grass  in  the  shade  of  a  tree  or  shrub, 
and  lets  nature  do  the  rest.  When  nature  has  re- 
stored the  child's  vitality  it  comes  back  into  the  school 
and  takes  up  its  mental  work  with  vigor.  Indian 
pupils  worship  their  teacher,  they  love  the  school 
and  they  respect  the  laws  of  the  land. 

Nature  tells  women  to  marry.  Motherhood  is  the 
highest  peak  of  human  attainment.  Teachers  well 
know  that  the  way  to  learn  to  do  anything  is  by 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


44 

doing  it.  Thus  women  know  if  they  are  to  become 
the  best  teachers  for  other  mothers'  children  they 
should  have  children  of  their  own,  that  they  may 
know  to  the  full  how  to  care  for  and  control  children 
of  different  natures  and  dispositions.  But  if  a  teacher 
is  brave  enough  to  go  to  the  school  board  and  talk 
thus  to  them  she  is  informed  that  motherhood  is  a 
bar  to  teaching.  Thus  does  the  public  school  trample 
upon  the  most  sacred  law  of  nature. 

The  bravest  battle  that  ever  was  fought,  shall  I  tell  you 

where  and  when? 
On  the  maps  of  the  world  you'll  find  it  not,  'twas  fought 

by  the  mothers  of  men 
Deep  in  a  walled-up  woman's  heart,  a  woman  who  would 

not  yield, 
But    silently,    patiently   bore    her    part — lo,    there    is    the 

battle-field.  —Miller. 

Indian  schools  know  the  value  of  having  a  mother 
on  every  school  ground.  They  well  know  that  a 
foul-mouthed,  blaspheming  boy  quiets  down  in  lan- 
guage and  demeanor  when  he  comes  into  the  pres- 
ence of  a  mother.  The  mother-teacher's  sanctifying 
influence  habituates  the  children  to  ways  of  gentle- 
ness and  truth. 

Nature  has  endowed  each  child  with  a  different 
capacity.  The  public  school  slaps  nature  in  the  face 
and  ties  the  children  into  groups  and  makes  them 
walk  lockstep.  Thus  are  bright  pupils  held  back,  and 
not  having  to  give  much  attention  to  their  lessons, 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


46 

become  restless,  often  mischievous,  and  these  handi- 
caps go  with  {hem  through  life,  often  to  their  un- 
doing. Dull  pupils  are  dragged  so  rapidly  over  their 
lessons  that  they  cannot  comprehend  anything  they 
read  or  are  told.  Thus  their  time  is  worse  than 
wasted  and  their  diploma  is  a  false  beacon  light;  it 
leads  them  to  believe  they  have  abilities  which  they 
do  not  possess. 

The  Indian  school  studies  each  child's  home  envi- 
ronment as  well  as  its  individuality.  Each  is  given 
several  lines  of  employment.  Then  as  the  child  shows 
some  adaptability  for  any  special  line  of  work,  it  is 
given  every  opportunity  and  personal  attention  to 
develop  along  that  line. 

Our  public  universities,  colleges  and  high  schools 
are  developing  a  spirit  of  selfishness,  a  snobbishness 
that  is  bad  for  the  individual  as  well  as  for  society. 

Indian  colleges  allow  no  distinction  in  dress  or 
demeanor.  All  girls  dress  alike  in  neat,  serviceable 
garments  made  by  themselves.  It  is  indeed  a  most 
pleasing  sight  to  see  hundreds  of  young  women  wan- 
dering about  the  campus  with  arms  lovingly  entwined 
about  each  other.  It  never  enters  the  mind  of  an 
Indian  girl  to  ask  her  companion  if  her  father  is  a 
ditch-digger  or  a  millionaire.  The  mind  and  heart 
are  the  measuring  values  at  the  Indian  colleges. 
Thus  are  selfishness  and  pride  kept  down.  And  when 
these  girls  marry  they  do  not  dream  about  silks  and 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


47 

satins,  automobiles  and  foreign  travel,  dansants  and 
after-theatre  dinners.  Their  minds  are  fully  devel- 
oped into  desiring  to  make  happy  homes  for  their 
husbands  and  children. 

We  well  know  that  an  ounce  of  prevention  is  worth 
a  pound  of  cure.  And  yet  we  act  much  as  did  the 
retired  merchant  who  purchased  a  fruit  farm.  He 
found  thereon  ten  thousand  young,  straight  and 
thrifty  fruit  trees,  and  a  few  old  hulks.  He  spent 
all  his  time  endeavoring  to  straighten  out  the  old 
crooks,  and  as  a  consequence,  at  fruit-picking  time  he 
found  most  of  his  young  trees  with  bodies  bent  and 
broken,  with  limbs  twisted  and  misshapen,  and  ail 
because  of  his  misapplied  efforts. 

Parents  and  teachers,  it  is  very  evident  that  the 
public  school  is  the  only  institution  that  can  meet 
the  present  conditions.  And  the  proper  care  of  our 
50,000,QOO  children  is  the  only  thing  that  will  meet 
the  future  conditions.  So  if  we  would  abolish  white 
slavery,  drunkenness,  gambling,  divorces,  we  must 
conserve  the  children,  and  I  know  of  no  other  way 
than  to  put  the  Indian  school  system  into  the  public 
school. 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


48 


MELTING-POT  vs.  S MELTING-POT. 

Our  public  school  system  has  often  been  likened  to 
a  melting-pot  by  many  leading  educators.  I  fear  they 
are  correct.  A  melting-pot  is  a  vessel  into  which  one 
pours  many  and  various  ingredients  or  materials  and 
they  melt  together,  the  pure  and  the  impure.  It  might 
be  compared  to  a  dinner-pot  into  which  the  house- 
wife puts  various  wholesome  vegetables  and  a  bit  of 
rotten  meat.  The  result  is  not  the  best. 

The  Indian  school  system  .is  like  a  smelting-pot ;  it 
separates  the  dross  from  the  pure  metal;  it  develops 
personal  character,  which  in  turn  makes  community 
character,  and  that  means  better  government,  busi- 
ness and  society. 


READ,    THINK,    ACT! 


PERSONALITY  AND  SYSTEM 


PERSONALITY  AND  SYSTEM. 

When  the  first  transcontinental  railroad  was  being 
built  across  the  Great  American  Desert,  and  Hearing 
the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains,  it  crossed  a  small 
stream  of  pure  mountain  water.  Because  of  this 
stream  a  division  station  was  built  there  and  named 
Wadsworth.  No  human  beings,  save  the  few  whites 
in  the  town,  lived  within  hundreds  of  miles  of  these 
Indians.  The  station  soon  became  the  parade  and 
show-grounds  for  the  redmen.  Here  the  women 
displayed  their  handiwork  in  blankets,  baskets  and 
pottery. 

As  years  rolled  away,  the  Indians  acquired  all  the 
dissolute  habits  of  the  whites  without  any  of  their 
energy.  They  were  rapidly  becoming  vagabonds. 
Honor  and  chastity  were  fast  disappearing.  They 
took  to  begging  and  stealing  as  the  easiest  methods 
of  getting  a  living.  They  were  reduced  to  the  lowest 
conditions  of  human  existence. 

The  Federal  Government  established  an  agency  at 
Wadsworth  and  recently  placed  J.  D.  Oliver  in 
charge.  Mr.  Oliver  was  a  man  of  family  with  large 
experience  in  dealing  with  men.  He  soon  discovered 
that  these  Indians  were  not  in  their  deplorable  con- 
dition from  present  environment  alone.  He  saw  that 
many  of  their  habits  were  from  centuries  of  tribal 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


51 

customs.  He  saw  that  if  he  elevated  them  to  a 
clean,  self-supporting  manner  of  living  he  would 
have  to  take  into  account  their  tribal  customs  as 
well  as  their  acquired  habits  from  present  associa- 
tions. 

When  the  railroad  built  through  the  Indian  coun- 
try, an  agreement  was  entered  into  between  the  In- 
dians and  the  railroad  managers  whereby  all  Indians 
were  entitled  to  ride  on  any  train,  free  of  charge, 
at  any  time.  Mr.  Oliver  observed  that  as  soon  as 
an  Indian  got  the  least  bit  restless,  he,  having  free 
transportation,  went  to  Reno,  where  through  drink 
and  gambling  he  soon  lost  everything  he  had  to  card 
sharps.  The  Indian  would  then  get  drunk  and  steal 
anything  he  could  pawn  for  a  drink  or  a  dime.  Thus 
the  Indians'  standard  of  morals  had  descended  to  the 
level  of  the  gamblers  and  harlots  of  Reno. 

Air.  Oliver  called  into  counsel  his  women  folk  and 
the  church  missionary,  Rev.  K.  Severance,  who  was 
a  big-hearted  and  brainy  man  who  had  seen  a  great 
deal  of  life  and  knew  the  power  of  habit.  After 
several  serious  talks,  Mr.  Oliver,  well  knowing  that 
the  task  of  reclaiming  these  Indians  would  be  long 
and  arduous,  concluded  not  to  apply  too  severe  meth- 
ods at^  first.  He  called  a  council  of  all  the  Indians. 
"When  they  had  assembled  Mr.  Oliver  said: 

"Friends,  you  feel  that  you  have  reached  the  end 
of  the  trail.  Turn  which  way  you  will  all  seems 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


Here  We  Have  These  Pyramid   Lake   Reservation   Indian   Homes. 

There  are  Many  Such.     What  a  Contrast  to  Their 

Former  Home   Life 


53 

dark  and  hopeless.  You  no  longer  dream  of  a  home 
for  your  loved  ones.  To  you,  virtue  seems  to  con- 
sist in  getting  the  best  of  the  other  fellow.  Even 
your  daughters'  chastity  is  being  bartered  for  strong 
drink.  During  the  summer  months  when  nature  pro- 
vides you  with  plenty  of  wild  game,  running  streams 
and  .warm  weather,  you  exist  in  comfort.  But  when 
the  chilling  winds  of  winter  sweep  across  the  plains 
you  are  without  food  or  shelter.  Then  you  freeze, 
you  starve,  you  die. 

"But,  friends,  I  come  to  you  with  glad  tidings. 
No  longer  need  you  look  at  what  seerhs  the  end  of 
the  trail,  but  you  can  see  the  turning  of  the  road. 
I  will  undertake  to  find  each  of  you  a  good  home, 
plenty  to  eat  and  wear,  with  a  bright  future  before 
you,  but  in  return  you  must  promise  to  do  what  I 
ask."  With  one  voice  the  assembled  multitude 
shouted,  "We  will." 

"Very  well,"  said  Mr.  Oliver,  "first  you  must  relin- 
quish your  privilege  to  ride  on  the  trains  without  a 
permit  from  me.  So  long  as  you  have  the  privilege 
to  go  where  and  when  you  please  without  cost,  you 
are  constantly  under  temptation  to  leave  the  agency 
and  go  among  white  schemers  who  soon  rob  you  of 
all  you  have.  Thus  do  you  not  only  lose  your  money, 
but  you  lose  your  time,  and  you  form  habits  of  idler 
ness  and  vice. 

"Xext   you   must  be   willing   to   work.      I    will   set 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,    ORGANIZE! 


54 

apart  a  farm  for  each  of  you  as  his  own,  and  I  will 
furnish  you  material  for  a  house,  but  you  must 
build  the  house.  I  will  furnish  you  with  teams, 
wagons,  harness  and  the  necessary  farm  implements, 
but  you  must  sow  and  reap  the  crops."  The  picture 
of  a  comfortable  home  with  plenty  to  eat  and  wear 
was  very  alluring  to  the  Indians,  but  the  thought  of 
working  was  repugnant  to  them  and  so  they  kept 
quiet. 

''You  must  quit  stealing  and  going  to  Reno."  At 
these  statements  from  Mr.  Oliver  there  was  a  loud 
protest  from  the  Indians.  But  Mr.  Oliver  continued : 
"In  return  for  these  restrictions  I  am  going  to  give 
you  a  very  great  privilege.  I  realize  gambling  is  a 
mania  with  some  of  you,  and  it  is  hard  for  you  to 
refrain  therefrom  even  when  you  know  that  you 
will  lose  everything  you  possess.  And  so  I  am  going 
to  allow  you  to  play  games  among  yourselves  on  the 
agency  grounds  for  non-essentials  every  Saturday 
afternoon." 

Then  up  spoke  a  young  Indian,  saying:  "\\e 
dearly  love  to  dance,  and  we  have  to  go  to  Reno  to 
dance,"  To  this  Mr.  Oliver  replied:  "I  will  see  to 
it  that  you  have  your  own  dances  on  the  reservation. 
I  will  organize  a  brass  band  and  a  string  band,  and 
we  will  have  a  dance  every  Saturday  night  where 
your  parents  may  watch  you  dance  and  thereby  enjoy 
themselves." 


READ,    THINK,    ACT! 


55 

On  that  basis  of  understanding,  with  this  capable, 
honest  leader,  these  homeless,  hopeless,  dissolute  In- 
dians turned  their  faces  towards  the  rising  sun  in 
hope. 

What  is  the  result?  Every  Indian  on  the  reserva- 
tion has  his  own  home  and  his  own  farm.  They  are 
self-supporting  and  self-respecting.  No  longer  do 
they  go  off  the  reservation  to  spend  their  time  in 
idleness,  drinking  and  gambling.  And  these  vices 
are  rapidly  dying  out  among  them. 

They  hold  an  annual  fair  in  the  fall.  They  enjoy 
displaying  their  crops  and  handiwork.  Bootleggers 
and  card-sharpers  are  not  allowed  on  the  grounds. 
There  is  no  rowdyism.  Every  one  acts  with  decency 
and  decorum. 

If  a  proper  school  system,  with  capable,  untram- 
meled  teachers,  is  doing  so  much  for  the  redman, 
what  could  it  not  do  for  the  whites? 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZEI 


A   Nevada   Indian   School   and   Agency 


TEACHING  MORALS 


TEACHING   MORALS   IN    SCHOOL. 

Teacher — Children,  what  a  wonderful  thing  is  life! 
Why  was  man  created  to  endure  the  trials  of  earth 
for  a  season,  then  die  and  go  where  no  one  knows? 
But  as  we  study  man,  animals  and  vegetation  we 
realize  that  humanity  is  greater  than  all  other  created 
things.  We  believe  that  the  spirit  of  man  will  live 
after  what  we  call  death.  This  being  so,  it  follows 
that  we  shall  depart  to  a  condition  of  pleasure  or 
torment  beyond  what  we  endured  on  this  earth. 

Pupil — Will  that  pleasure  or  torment  be  physical 
or  mental? 

Teacher — I  do  not  know.  I  can  only  reason  from 
what  I  see  and  know.  One  of  our  poets  depicts  it 
as  a  mental  state  when  he  says : 

I   sat  alone   with   my  conscience    in   a   place   where    time 

had  ceased, 
And  thought  of  my  former  living  in  the  land  where  the 

years   increased, 
And    ghosts    of    forgotten    actions    came    floating    before 

my   sight, 
And  things   I  thought  were  dead  things  were  alive  with 

a   terrible   might. 
So    I    have    learned    this    lesson:     howe'er    dreadful    hell 

may  be, 
To    be    alone    with    my    conscience    will    be    hell    enough 

for  me.  . 

I  hope  you  will  never  see  a  man  with  delirium  tre- 
mens.  The  mind  of  man  cannot  conceive  a  more  ter- 


READ,   THINK.    ACT! 


59 

rible  punishment  than  that.  He  imagines  snakes  are 
crawling  all  over  him,  that  devils  are  driving  nails 
into  his  brain,  prodding  him  with  redhot  irons.  Even 
if  the  torments  of  eternity  are  no  worse  than  those 
of  this  life,  still  we  should  strive  to  so  live  that  we 
will  escape  that  torment. 

Pupil — Is  not  your  Christian  God  a  cruel,  revenge- 
ful monster? 

Teacher — No ;  man  was  created  for  a  stupendous 
purpose.  To  be  effective  he  must  have  initiative,  so 
was  given  the  power  of  choice,  of  free-will.  But  God 
did  not  leave  man  in  a  forest  of  doubt  as  to  right 
and  wrong.  The  laws  of  nature,  which  stand  from 
everlasting  to  everlasting,  are  as  a  pillar  of  cloud  by 
day  and  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night  to  guide  man  aright. 
Man  on  earth  is  as  a  person  crossing  a  river  in  a- 
rowboat :  he  has  the  boat  and  the  oars ;  if  he  goes  to 
sleep  and  comes  to  disaster  he  alone  is  to  blame. 

Pupil — I  do  not  want  a  religion  that  keeps  me  good 
from  fear  of  punishment. 

Teacher — In  all  things  we  must  consider  man  from 
his  standard  of  reasoning  power  and  his  develop- 
ment. There  may  come  a  time  when  man  will  be 
sufficiently  developed  to  appreciate  an  all-enduring 
love  and  live  accordingly.  But,  in  our  present  stage 
of  development  how  long  would  any  government 
exist  under  absolute  personal  liberty?  Suppose  this 
Government  should  abolish  all  courts, and  police,  tear 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


60 

down  all  jails  and  penitentiaries,  would  not  licen- 
tiousness, thieving",  murder — aye,  chaos — reign? 

No,  children,  I  have  seen  too  many  political  gather- 
ings where  every  man  had  a  knife  up  his  sleeve,  to 
think  you  can  deal  with  men  other  than  they  are. 

Pupil — Do  men  act  wickedly  more  than  righteously  ? 

Teacher — To  answer  your  question  I  shall  assume 
that  negative  acts,  that  is,  those  not  wicked,  are  good, 
and  so  I  answer  you,  no.  But  as  a  dirty  spot  on  a 
white  collar  attracts  adverse  criticism  despite  the 
much  larger  surface  of  white,  so  one  evil  deed  at- 
tracts more  attention  than  ten  thousand  good  ones. 

A  man  reaches  the  age  of  thirty  or  forty  years. 
He  has  lived  uprightly.  In  an  evil  hour,  in  the  heat 
of  passion,  he  kills  a  fellow  man.  The  million  hours 
in  which  he  did  no  wrong  are  of  but  secondary  con- 
sideration with  the  court.  The  evil  hour,  the  one 
wicked  deed,  sends  him  to  the  gallows  or  penitentiary. 

A  young-  woman  lives  a  pure  and  noble  life.  In 
an  unguarded  moment,  perhaps  under  promise  of 
marriage,  she  falls.  Her  many  resistances  to  tempta- 
tion are  forgotten,  while  the  one  misstep  damns  her 
and  even  her  child.  I  feel  certain  God  is  more  mer- 
ciful than  man. 

Yet,  despite  all  this,  children,  we  must  deal  with 
life  just  as  we  see  it.  A  railroad  is  built  from  New 
York  to  San  Francisco.  Four  thousand  miles  of  the 
road  are  perfect,  but  one  bridge  in  the  Rocky  Moun- 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


61 

tains  breaks  down  every  time  a  train  runs  upon  it. 
Who  would  travel  on  such  a  road? 

Children,  let  each  of  us  build  our  life's  road  free 
from  any  weaknesses  of  temper  or  desire,  all  the  way 
from  the  cradle  to  the  grave. 

Pupil — Cannot  we  join  the  Church  and  thus  escape 
damnation  ? 

Teacher — Simply  joining  the  Church  will  not  save 
one.  But  by  joining  the  Church  we  get  into  the 
habit  of  attending  church  and  Sunday-school.  And 
if  we  find  pleasure  in  church  society  we  will  not  take 
pleasure  in  getting  drunk  or  gambling.  Thus,  join- 
ing a  Church  helps  us  to  form  clean  habits,  which 
should  be  the  earnest  desire  of  every  person. 

Pupil — Cannot  we  go  the  pace  and  later  in  life 
repent  and  be  saved?  Young  blood  is  hot  and  boys 
must  sow  their  wild  oats. 

Teacher — I  have  small  patience  with  that  devil's 
doctrine  that  "boys  must  be  boys."  Boys  will  be 
what  we  make  them.  I  am  rather  with  that  great 
writer,  Ruskin,  who  wrote : 

A  youth  thoughtless,  when  all  the  happiness  of  his 
home  forever  depends  on  the  chances  or  the  passions 
of  an  hour!  A  youth  thoughtless,  when  the  career  of 
all  his  days  depends  on  the  opportunity  of  a  moment! 
A  youth  thoughtless,  when  his  every  action  is  a  foun- 
dation-stone of  future  conduct,  and  every  imagination  a 
fountain  of  life  or  death!  Be  thoughtless  in  any  after 
years,  rather  than  now — though,  indeed,  there  is  only 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


62 

one    place   where   a   man   may   be   nobly   thoughtless,    his 
deathbed.     Nothing  should  ever  be  left  to  be  done  there. 

Again,  can  you  get  an  ink  stain  out  of  your  copy- 
book? The  way  to  live  is  to  form  right  habits  early 
in  youth.  Strive  never  to  do  or  say  anything  you 
would  be  ashamed  for  your  mother  to  see  or  hear. 
Study  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  strive  to  become  like 
Him  in  word  and  deed.  Live  so  that  when  you  pass 
away  you  •  can  dwell  in  His  presence  and  He  will 
cover  your  transgressions. 

Pupil — If  sin  is  as  a  blot  of  ink  on  a  piece  of 
white  paper,  how  will  sitting  in  His  presence  hide  it? 

Teacher — Let  me  liken  each  individual  to  a  street- 
lamp.  In  the  darkness  of  the  night  it  shines  forth 
and  attracts  all  manner  of  vermin,  bugs  and  beetles ; 
but  when  the  sun  shines  forth,  the  light  of  the  street 
lamp  wanes  and  the  dirt  and  filth  on  the  globe  is  not 
seen.  So  if  the  street-light  could  keep  in  the  light 
of  the  sun  all  the  time  no  one  would  notice  its  dirty 
condition. 

Let  us  so  live  in  this  life,  children,  that  when  we 
stand  in  the  presence  of  the  all-seeing  Judge,  He 
will  not  send  us  into  outer  darkness  where  our  sins 
will  show  forth  and  remind  us  of  what  might  have 
been. 

As  it  is  difficult  to  stop  when  you  are  sliding  down 
a  steep  icy  hillside,  so  it  is  difficult  to  change  evil 
habits. 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


THE  BIBLE  IN  SCHOOL 


THE  BIBLE  IN  SCHOOL. 

Question — Would  you  have  the  Bible  in  school? 

Answer — I  would  as  soon  think  about  building  a 
house  without  using  lumber  as  I  would  attempt  to 
teach  morals  without  the  sayings  of  Jesus  Christ. 
His  life  and  teachings,  so  pure  and  simple,  must  ever 
be  the  foundation  of  our  moral  instruction,  or  our 
morals  will  be  as  shifting  as  man's  desire.  While 
no  father  wants  his  son  to  become  a  drunkard,  and 
no  mother  desires  her  daughter  to  become  a  harlot, 
yet  fathers  and  mothers  are  leading  their  sons  and 
daughters  to  the  doors  of  saloons  and  brothels  by 
submitting  to,  even  if  not  indulging  in,  the  trend  of 
the  times. 

One  trouble  with  our  morals  is,  the  Church  has 
discarded  the  Bible  truths  for  man's  interpretation 
thereof.  Let  us  have  one  lesson  in  morals.  In  this 
lesson  we  will  lay  the  foundation  for  our  future 
moral  instruction.  The  30,000,000  children  of  school 
age  are  in  their  seats.  The  several  hundred  thou- 
sand teachers  call  their  various  schools  to  order  and 
say: 

As  the  man  who  owns  his  home  is  a  more  con- 
tented and  better  citizen  than  the  homeless  man,  so 
the  man  who  has  his  mind  satisfied  as  to  the  future 
life  will  live  a  more  wholesome,  clean  and  simple  life 
than  the  man  who  is  always  trying  to  convince  him- 


READ,   THINK,   ACT! 


65 

self  that  there  is  no  life  after  death.  And  so,  chil- 
dren, in  this  first  lesson  on  morals  I  will  try  to  make 
it  plain  to  you  why  man  was  created. 

Pupil — My  father  says  man  was  not  created,  he 
just  evolved. 

Teacher — Your  father's  statement  is  worthy  of 
serious  consideration.  So  let  us  search  deeply  into 
the  question.  Let  us  consider  the  origin  of  matter. 
Matter  is  here,  so  it  must  have  had  a  beginning. 
How,  where  or  when  matter  first  appeared  is  be- 
yond the  mind  of  man  to  grasp.  Man  cannot  fully 
understand  a  place  or  condition  without  time  or 
space.  As  we  throw  our  minds  back,  and  yet  back, 
grasping  for  a  stable  condition,  we  find  as  much 
space  beyond  our  utmost  outlook  as  when  we  started 
to  investigate.  And  so  we  become  bewildered. 

The  best  illustration  I  can  give  you  of  eternity 
is  the  horizon  as  I  crossed  the  ocean.  It  seemed 
but  a  few  miles  away  when  the  ship  left  the  dock  at 
New  York,  but  as  we  traveled  for  days  the  horizon 
was  ever  as  far  in  advance  as  at  the  beginning  of 
the  journey. 

To  get  a  solid  mental  foundation  on  which  to  erect 
a  structure  of  rules  to  guide  us,  we  arbitrarily  say 
"In  the  beginning."  And  yet  we  know  no  more 
about  eternity  than  before,  but  we  have  a  solid  foun- 
dation for  thought. 

In  the  beginning  was  a  creative  force.     The  Chris- 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


66 

tian  world  calls  it  God,  evolutionists  call  it  matter. 
It  seems  reasonable  to  me  to  believe  the  Creator 
greater  than  his  creation.  Man  being  matter,  is  he 
both  creator  and  creature?  This  does  not  harmonize 
with  known  facts.  Man  is  the  only  animal  that  can, 
by  working  hand  in  hand  with  nature,  produce 
greater  results  than  nature  alone  can ;  yet  man  cannot 
produce  flesh  or  vegetation  other  than  by  the  way 
nature  has  provided.  Thus  we  see  man  is  not  su- 
preme, although  he  is  above  all  other  forms  of  mat- 
ter. Man  is  not  the  finality.  There  must  be  a  higher 
power. 

Long  ago  people  said  life  resided  in  the  sun,  hence 
it  was  the  creative  force  back  of  all.  They  satisfied 
their  own  minds  by  placing  an  egg  on  ice  and  another 
in  sand  warmed  by  the  sun's  rays.  The  heat  of  the 
sun  hatched  the  egg  in  the  sand,  while  the  egg  on 
the  ice  did  not  hatch.  And  thus  they  were  satisfied 
that  heat  was  life,  and  the  sun,  being  the  center  of 
heat,  was  the  creator  of  life,  until  someone  called 
their  attention  to  the  fact  that  other  forces  of  nature 
frequently  overcame  the  sun.  And  so  man  learned 
that  there  was  a  creative  force  beyond  his  under- 
standing. This  he  called  God,  and  from  that  day  to 
this  wise  men  content  themselves  with  the  knowledge 
that  there  is  a  force  beyond  the  limits  of  time,  and 
that  they  can  reach  a  state  of  peace  beyond  their 
mind  to  grasp  if  they  live  according  to  the  laws  of 
nature.  

READ,   THINK,   ACT! 


67 

Pupil — My  brother  says  there  is  no  God. 

Teacher — Let  us  look  into  your  brother's  state- 
ment. Always  keep  in  mind  that  it  is  very  difficult 
to  clearly  demonstrate  that  which  we  ourselves  do 
not  fully  understand.  Herein  do  many  preachers  err, 
they  make  dogmatic  statements  about  eternity  which 
they  themselves  cannot  prove.  Then  when  children 
K-.n'in  asking  questions,  they  tell  them  they  are  too 
young  to  understand  such  deep  things.  So  the  chil- 
dren, a-s  well  as  older  persons,  become  skeptical  and 
become  mental  wanderers. 

I  ask  you  to  investigate  eternity  as  you  would  a 
problem  in  algebra.  We  say  x  represents  the  un- 
known quantity,  then  by  proving  the  knowable  quan- 
tity we  find  the  power  of  .v. 

Matter  exists,  that  is  the  known  quantity.  What- 
ever exists  was  created  by  an  intelligence  or  by 
chance.  Let  us  prove  that  there  was  an  intelligence 
before  time  began  and  we  need  not  worry  about  the 
form  of  such  intelligence. 

Go  to  the  shore  of  old  ocean.  Watch  that  ever- 
moving  body  of  water.  See  it  hurl  itself  against 
its  rocky  barriers.  And  yet  we  can  tell,  a  thousand 
years  in  advance,  to  the  hour,  on  any  given  day, 
when  it  will  be  high  tide  or  low  tide.  There  is  no 
CHANCE  about  the  movements  of  the  tides. 

Watch  the  sun  and  moon.  They  are  ever  moving. 
Yet  you  can  tell,  ten  thousand  years  in  the  future, 
when  there  will  be  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  or  moon. 

AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


68 

There  is  no  shadow  of  possibility  of  CHANCE  domi- 
nating the  movements  of  the  sun  or  moon. 

Look  into  the  heavens  and  watch  the  myriad  mil- 
lions of  worlds  as  they  rush  through  space  without 
crashing  against  each  other.  If  their  movements 
were  by  CHANCE  would  there  not  be  tumult  in  the 
heavens  ? 

Do  we  not  well  know  that  people,  animals  and 
vegetation  produce  each  after  its  own  kind?  Could 
this  be  so  if  CHANCE  ran  this  world? 

So  we  find,  children,  by  investigation  from  the 
known  to  the  unknown,  that  this  old  world  and  the 
fulness  thereof  were  created  by  an  intelligence,  and 
reason  tells  us  that  it  makes  no  difference  to  us 
what  the  shape  of  or  the  name  we  give  to  this  in- 
telligence. It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that  it  has 
being  and  that  it  is  watching  over  our  every  action. 
If  we  call  it  God  every  person  understands  what  we 
mean,  although  we  cannot  understand  its  personality 
or  describe  its  being. 

Pupil — Father  told  me  never  to  believe  anything 
I  could  not  see  and  explain. 

Teacher — While  your  father  did  not  intend  to  mis- 
lead you,  he  spoke  without  due  consideration.  You 
cannot  see  electricity,  and  yet  you  well  know  there 
is  such  an  element,  as  you  have  seen  electric  lights, 
as  well  as  the  power  of  electricity  in  moving  cars 
and  machinery. 


READ,    THINK,    ACT! 


69 

It  is  just  as  certain  there  is  an  intelligence  back 
of  the  sun,  which  gives  out  more  light  than  all  the 
electric  lights  of  the  world.  And  to  hold  this  world 
in  space  requires  more  power  than  the  mind  of  man 
can  conceive. 

Xow,  children,  the  lesson  I  want  you  to  learn  from 
this  discussion  is,  there  is  an  intelligence  back  of 
creation  which  is  beyond  the  mind  of  man  to  grasp. 
The  brainest  of  men  can  barely  glimpse  its  vastness. 
This  intelligence  existed  before  time  began  and  will 
as  certainly  exist  after  time  ceases. 

Man  is  superior  to  every  other  form  of  matter. 
Some  men  call  this  superiority  soul,  others  call  it 
intelligence.  What  matters  it  to  us  what  name  it 
bears?  It  is  sufficient  for  us  to  know  that  it  is  in- 
destructible, that  it  lives  after  our  bodies  have  mol- 
dered  into  dust.  And  so  the  thing  that  should  con- 
cern us  is  the  knowledge  that  this  never  dying  part 
of  us  will  go  to  a  place  of  blessedness  or  torment 
according  to  the  deeds  we  do  while  in  the  flesh. 

Remember,  children,  every  word  we  speak,  every 
smile  or  frown  we  give,  every  act  we  do  is  placed  on 
our  soul's  forehead  just  as  ink  marks  are  placed  on 
white  paper. 

I  want  you  to  think  seriously  about  this  great  re- 
sponsibility that  rests  with  each  one  of  us  personally. 
And  so,  at  home,  or  on  the  street,  or  at  work  or 
play,  speak  and  act  kindly  to  parents,  teachers,  play- 
mates or  casual  companions. 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


A  Nation  That  Treats  its  Children  Thus  Will   Reap  a  Reward  of 
Weakness  and  Corruption 


HOME  GARDENING  IN  SCHOOL 


HOME  GARDENING  DIRECTED  BY  THE 
'SCHOOL. 

A    PLAN    FOR    THE    BETTER    ECONOMIC    AND    EDUCATIVE 

USE    OF   THE    TIME    OF    THE    CHILDREN    IN    CITIES, 

TOWNS,    AND    MANUFACTURING    VILLAGES. 

By  P.  P.  Claxton,  National  Commissioner  of  Education. 

In  the  cities,  towns,  manufacturing  villages,  and 
suburban  communities  of  the  United  States  there  are 
approximately  13,000,000  children  between  the  ages 
of  6  and  20.  Of  these  about  9,750,000  are  enrolled 
in  the  public  and  private  schools.  The  average  daily 
attendance  is  6,500,000,  two-thirds  of  the  enrollment 
and  one-half  of  the  school  population.  These  children 
are  taught  by  300,000  teachers  at  a  cost  for  all  pur- 
poses of  $300,000,000.  The  average  length  of  school 
term  in  the  cities  is  180  days.  The  average  attend- 
ance is  120  days.  The  length  of  the  school  day  is 
about  five  hours. 

Probably  5  per  cent,  of  these  children  are  away 
from  home  during  the  summer  vacation  months  with 
their  parents  at  summer  resorts  or  visiting  in  the 
country.  Between  5  and  10  per  cent,  are  employed 
in  some  useful,  healthful,  productive  occupation. 
Eighty-five  per  cent,  remain  at  home  without  any 
useful,  healthful  occupation  requiring  any  large  part 
of  their  time.  Most  of  them  have  little  opportunity 
for  play.  Some  of  them  work  a  portion  of  the  time 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


73 

at  occupations  at  which  they  earn  "very  little  and 
which  are  not  suited  for  children  of  their  age.  The 
dangers  of  idleness  and  unsuitable  occupation  are 
very  great  for  all.  A  large  majority  of  them  belong 
to  families  whose  members  must  earn  their  living 
by  their  daily  labor  and  for  which  the  earnings  are 
so  meager  that  anything  which  can  be  added  by  the 
children  is  much  needed.  Many  of  them  are  cold  in 
winter,  and  must  go  hungry  much  of  the  time.  More 
of  them  live  in  small,  crowded  rooms  and  in  poorly- 
furnished  homes.  More  than  two-thirds  of  them 
leave  school  at  14  years  of  age  or  earlier,  to  become 
breadwinners.  Because  of  lack  of  proper  contact 
with  nature  and  the  experience  which  comes  from 
suitable,  purposeful,  productive  occupations,  most  of 
them  do  not  get  from  their  years  in  school  such 
education  as  they  should. 

In  this  situation  is  involved  an  important  problem 
of  education  and  economics  which  can,  it  is  believed, 
be  solved  in  no  other  way  so  well  as  by  home  gar- 
dening done  by  children  under  the  direction  of  the 
schools.  In  all  of  the  manufacturing  villages,  sub- 
urban communities,  smaller  towns,  and  outskirts  of 
the  larger  towns  and  cities,  there  is  much  valuable 
land  in  back  yards,  vacant  lots,  and  elsewhere  which 
might  be  used  for  this  purpose.  In  every  school  in 
a  community  of  this  kind  there  should  be  at  least  one 
teacher  who  knows  gardening,  both  theoretically  and 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


74 

practically.  This  teacher,  who  should,  of  course,  be 
employed  twelve  months  in  the  year,  should  teach 
the  elementary  sciences  in  the  schools  during  school 
hours  and  should,  out  of  school  hours,  direct  the 
home  gardening  of  the  children  between  the  ages  of 
7  and  15.  If  possible  the  teacher  should  have  the 
assistance  of  an  expert  gardener,  so  that  the  work 
may  be  done  in  the  most  practical  and  profitable  way. 
The  teacher  and  the  gardener  should  help  the  children 
find  the  plots  of  ground  near  their  homes  best  suited 
for  garden  work,  aid  them  by  some  co-operative 
method  to  have  the  lots  properly  plowed  and  pre- 
pared for  cultivation,  help  them  select  seeds,  and 
show  them  how  to  plant,  cultivate,  and  harvest,  so 
as  to  obtain  the  best  results.  The  teacher  should 
spend  the  afternoons  and  Saturdays  of  winter,  spring, 
and  fall,  when  school  is  in  session,  and  all  of  the 
vacation  days  of  summer,  visiting  the  children  in  their 
homes,  directing  their  work,  and  giving  to  each  child 
such  help  as  it  most  needs.  Once  a  week  or  oftener, 
during  the  vacation  months,  the  teacher  should  as- 
semble the  children  in  groups  'for  discussions  of  their 
work  and  of  the  principles  and  methods  involved. 

Vegetables,  berries,  and  fruits  grown  should  be 
used  first  as  food  for  the  children  and  their  families ; 
then  the  surplus  should  be  marketed  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage. Through  the  help  of  the  teacher  this  can 
be  done  in  a  co-operative  way.  Ten  or  fifteen  cents' 


READ,    THINK,    ACT! 


75 

worth  of  vegetables  each  day  from  the  gardens  of 
each  of  200  children  would  amount  to  $20  or  $30. 
In  the  summer  and  fall,  when  the  surplus  is  large 
and  can  not  be  marketed  to  advantage,  the  teacher 
should  direct  and  help  the  children  in  canning  and 
preserving  for  winter  use  or  for  sale.  The  canning 
and  tomato  clubs  of  the  Southern  States  have  already 
shown  what  can  'be  done  in  this  way. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  results  of  this  plan 
when  it  shall  be  in  full  operation  throughout  the 
country.  For  the  children  it  will  mean  health, 
strength,  joy  in  work,  habits  of  industry,  an  under- 
standing of  the  value  of  money,  as  measured  in  terms 
of  labor,  and  such  knowledge  of  the  phenomena  and 
forces  of  nature  as  must  be  had  for  an  understanding 
of  most  of  their  school  lessons.  They  will  also  learn 
something  at  least  of  the  fundamental  principle  of 
morality ;  that  each  individual  must  make  his  or  her 
own  living;  must,  by  some  kind  of  labor  of  head, 
hand,  or  heart,  contribute  to  the  common  wealth  as 
much  as  he  takes  from  it ;  must  pay  for  what  he  gets 
in  some  kind  of  coin. 

The  economic  and  sociological  results  should  also 
be  considered.  Many  experiments  already  made  show 
that  with  proper  direction  an  average  child  of  the' 
ages  contemplated  can  produce  on  an  eighth  of  an 
acre  of  land  from  $50  to  $100  worth  of  vegetables. 
A  third  of  the  childen  in  the  city  schools  of  the 

AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


77 

United  States  might  easily  produce  $200,000,000  a 
year. 

This  plan  in  full  operation  would  probably  do  more 
toward  keeping  young  children  out  of  the  factories 
and  mills  than  all  of  the  child-labor  laws  on  the 
statute  books.  A  boy  10  or  12  years  of  age,  with  a 
quarter  of  an  acre  of  land,  working  under  careful 
direction,  can  produce  more  for  the  support  of  the 
family  than  could  be  purchased  with  the  child's  wages 
from  the  mill.  Children  should  not  be  ground  in  the 
mills  nor  sweated  in  the  factories ;  their  strength 
should  not  be  sapped  and  their  nerves  racked  by 
working  in  the  heat  and  dust  of  indoors,  yet  all  chil- 
dren should  learn  to  work ;  it  is  good  for  them,  and 
they  joy  in  it.  9 

This  plan  wrill  also  do  much  to  solve  the  problem 
of  the  idle  negro.  A  large  part  of  the  negroes  of 
the  Southern  States  live  on  the  outskirts  of  cities 
and  small  towns.  Their  cabin  homes  are  frequently 
on  large  lots  and  surrounded  with  vacant  lots  covered 
with  weeds  and  rubbish.  During  the  vacation  months 
the  negro  children  roam  idly  on  the  streets,  falling 
into  mischief  and  vice.  Under  proper  direction  they 
might  make,  on  these  back  yards  and  vacant  lots, 
enough  to  support  themselves  and  more.  Their  par- 
ents might  then  put  into  savings  banks  a  good  part 
of  their  earnings.  With  the  money  thus  accumulated 
they  could  buy  or  build  their  own  homes  and  gain 
some  degree  of  that  independence  necessary  for  good 

AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


78 

citizenship  for  men  and  women  of  any  race.  The 
negro  children  would  be  kept  from  vice  and  would 
gain  habits  of  industry.  Incidentally  these  negro 
quarters  would  be  changed  from  places  of  ugliness 
to  places  of  beauty. 

Probably  the  most  valuable  result  of  this  plan  will 
be  found  in  the  fact  that  it  will  make  it  easy  for 
most  children  to  attend  school  three  or  four  years 
longer  than  they  now  do,  a  thing  more  and  more 
desirable,  since  education  for  life  and  citizenship  in 
our  industrial,  civic,  and  social  democracy  can  not  be 
obtained  before  the  age  of  adolescence.  In  some  way 
all  children  must  have  instruction  and  training  after 
the  years  of  childhood,  or  state  and  society  must 
suffer  for  the  failure.  If  a  child  can  contribute  to 
its  support  while  in  school,  it  may  remain  in  school 
much  longer  than  if  it  must  be  carried  as  a  dead 
weight  until  it  quits  school  to  go  to  work. 

The  fact  that  this  work  will  produce  a  generation 
of  men  and  women  who  will  find  their  recreation  after 
the  close  of  their  eight-hour  labor  day  in  profitable 
home  gardening  is  also  not  the  least  important  rea- 
son for  its  introduction. 

Compared  with  the  results,  the  cost  will  be  incon- 
siderable. No  addition  to  the  number  of  teachers 
will  be  required.  It  will  only  be  necessary  to  require 
different  preparation  for  one  teacher  in  each  school. 
Fifty  thousand  such  teachers  will  be  sufficient  for  all 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


79 

the  city,  town,  and  manufacturing1  village  schools  in 
the  United  States.  To  add  $500  to  the  salary  of 
one  teacher  in  each  school,  in  order  to  retain  his 
services  throughout  the  entire  twelve  months,  would 
require  an  additional  expenditure  of  $25,000,000,  only 
one-twelfth  of  the  present  total  cost  of  these  schools 
and  less  than  one-eighth  of  the  total  value  of  what 
may  easily  be  produced  by  the  healthful,  joyous,  edu- 
cative labor  of  children  who  now  spend  much  more 
than  half  of  their  waking  hours  in  idleness  hurtful 
to  them  physically,  mentally,  and  morally. 

In  the  estimates  submitted  to  Congress  by  the 
Commissioner  of  Education  for  the  support  of  the 
Bureau  in  the  next  fiscal  year,  an  item  of  $5,700  is 
included  to  enable  the  Bureau  to  begin  the  intro- 
duction of  this  kind  of  work  in  the  schools  of  the 
United  States.  The  commissioner  believes  that  it 
will  only  be  necessary  to  work  out  details  of  plans 
and  to  present  them  to  school  officers,  together  with 
full  information  in  regard  to  results  of  somewhat 
similar  work  already  done  at  various  places.  It  will, 
of  course,  be  necessary  also  to  induce  colleges  and 
training  schools  for  teachers  to  so  modify  their 
courses  as  to  give  to  some  teachers  the  preparation 
required  for  this  work.  Many  such  teachers  should 
be  prepared  in  the  colleges  and  schools  of  agriculture. 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,  ORGANIZE! 


CHILD  LABOR  AND  POVERTY 


CHILD  LABOR  AND  POVERTY. 
Employers'  Responsibility. 

When  I  was  in  London  I  saw  such  poverty  and 
degradation  as  I  hope  this  nation  will  never  come  to. 
One  gets  a  shave  in  the  commercial  end  of  town  for 
two  pennies.  In  the  workingmen's  living  district  one 
gets  a  shave  for  one  penny  ha'penny.  As  a  conse- 
quence these  working  people  must  work  twelve  to 
fifteen  hours  each  day  for  a  mere  existence.  If  one 
is  out  of  work  for  a  day  he  is  in  debt  for  a  month, 
if  he  is  sick  for  a  week  he  is  in  debt  for  a  year. 
They  are  degraded  below  the  line  of  hope.  It  is  ter- 
rible to  think  that  human  beings  are  thus  treated, 
and  especially  is  it  so  when  we  feel  that  unless  some- 
thing is  done  our  own  children  will  come  to  that 
condition  of  existence. 

Josephine  J.  Eschenbrenner,  secretary  of  the  Na- 
tional Child  Labor  Committee,  tells  us  that  2,000,000 
children  under  fifteen  years  of  age  are  employed  at 
starvation  wages,  in  unsanitary  environment.  What 
will  these  children  do  to  politics  and  business  when 
they  come  into  possession  of  government? 

As  I  traveled  through  Scotland,  England  and 
France,  I  saw  women  by  the  thousands  working  in 
the  fields,  late  and  early.  When  I  returned  home  and 
looked  into  farm  conditions  in  America  I  found,  by 


READ,    THINK,    ACT! 


83 

governmental  statistics,  that  there  are  over  1,500,000 
women  and  girls  doing  men's  work  in  the  fields. 
Are  not  the  chances  that  the  children  these  women 
bear  will  be  puny,  and  very  likely  deformed?  Is  it 
thus  we  would  rear  a  free  and  loyal  people? 

Thinking  over  these  things  I  fell  asleep  and  was 
carried  in  the  spirit  by  an  angel  to  a  high  mountain 
where  I  saw  the  earth  and  all  above  and  below  the 
earth. 

And  I  beheld  the  throne  of  Satan.  And  I  saw  a 
man  walk  with  haughty  step  into  the  presence  of 
Lucifer  and  I  heard  him  say:  "I  want  to  become 
a  Captain  of  Industry  on  the  earth/' 

Lucifer  looked  at  him  in  sorrow  for  a  moment, 
then  said,  "Knowest  what  you  ask?"  The  man  re- 
plied, "I  know." 

Lucifer  said:  "What  you  ask  for  carries  with  it 
tremendous  responsibilities;  are  you  able  to  carry 
the  burden?"  The  man  replied,  "I  am  able." 

Then  Lucifer  said:  "Go,  I  give  you  the  power 
you  ask.  May  God  have  mercy  on  your  soul."  And 
the  man  went  away  to  the  earth. 

And  I  was  for  a  season  as  one  asleep,  and  when 
I  awoke  I  saw  the  man  who  had  been  a  Captain  of 
Industry  on  the  earth,  approaching  the  throne  of  God 
saying  in  a  haughty  manner,  "I  have  come  to  judg- 
ment." 

Then  God  said  to  him,  "You  shall  see  through  the 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


85 

eyes  of  an  impartial  judge."  And  God  plucked  out 
His  right  eye  and  handed  it  to  the  man  saying, 
"Look."  The  man  did  look  and  this  is  what  he  saw : 

A  great  forest,  dense,  dank  and  dismal.  To  the 
east  of  the  forest  was  an  innumerable  army  of  happy, 
well-fed  children  playing  and  singing  in  childish 
glee.  And  as  they  sang  and  danced  they  passed  into 
the  forest. 

The  forest  was  filled  with  hideous  beasts.  Seen 
from  one  viewpoint  they  appeared  to  be  well-dressed 
Christian  gentlemen.  Seen  from  another  viewpoint 
they  were  hideous  monsters.  Their  heads  were  as 
the  heads  of  swine,  with  flesh-tearing  tusks,  their 
arms  were  as  the  tentacles  of  an  octopus  which  never 
let  go  of  its  victim  but  sucked  the  flesh  of  its  bones, 
their  fingers  were  as  the  claws  of  an  eagle,  while 
their  feet  were  as  those  of  a  jungle  tiger,  soft  to 
tread  but  swift  and  terrible  to  tear  the  flesh  of  its 
victim. 

And  these  beasts  sprang  upon  the  children  and 
despite  their  pleadings  did  suck  the  blood  from  their 
tender  bodies  and  did  rend  and  tear  their  quivering 
flesh. 

Later  the  children  crawled  out  of  the  forest  to  the 
west,  maimed  and  decrepit,  old  while  yet  young. 
And  all  the  days  of  their  lives  they  were  wracked 
Avith  pain  and  hunger. 

AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


86 

The  man  who  was  looking  through  the  eye  of 
God  asked,  "What  is  this  to  me?" 

Then  God  replied:  "The  forest  you  saw  is  the 
mines,  mills,  factories  and  other  places  of  child  em- 
ployment where  little  children  are  put  to  work  in 
unsanitary  conditions,  are  worked  long  hours  and 
are  paid  starvation  wages.  Thus  are  they  destroyed 
body  and  soul.  The  beasts  you  saw  are  such  men  as 
yourself.  When  a  child  is  put  to  work  under  such 
conditions  that  it  loses  flesh  and  blood  I  shall  hold 
you  employers  guilty  of  sucking  the  blood  and  eating 
the  flesh  of  that  child.  Be  not  deceived ;  I  will  not 
be  mocked." 

Then  the  Captain  of  Industry  fell  on  his  face 
screaming  and  writhing  in  great  agony,  exclaiming : 
"Let  the  devils  in  hell  judge  me." 

Then  God  replied:  "So  let  it  be."  And  the  man 
was  cast  into  the  pit  of  torment  where  there  was 
weeping  and  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth. 

Parental  Responsibility. 

And  I  saw  a  man  approach  the  throne  of  God 
saying,  "I  have  come  to  judgment." 

God  looked  at  the  man  for  a  moment  then  He 
plucked  out  His  right  eye  and  handing  it  to  the  man 
said,  "Look." 

When  the  man  looked  through  the  eye  of  God 
his  face  paled  and  he  was  terror-stricken.  He  cast 
the  eye  of  God  from  him  and  ran  screaming  away. 


READ,    THINK,    ACT! 


87 

But  an  angel  brought  him  back.  Then  again  God 
said,  "Look."  The  man  did  so  and  fell  to  the  floor 
writhing  and  screaming  as  one  demented. 

I  turned  to  my  guide  and  asked  the  meaning  of 
the  man's  terror. 

My  guide  replied :  "This  man  while  on  earth  mar- 
ried and  became  a  father.  He  took  to  drink,  impov- 
erished his  family,  his  wife  died  of  a  broken  heart. 
He  died  a  miserable  drunken  wretch,  and  when  he 
looked  through  the  eye  of  God  this  is  what  he  saw : 

"A  large  city.  A  young  girl  clothed  in  rags.  She 
is  in  great  poverty.  She  is  wringing  her  hands  in 
fear  and  anguish.  She  starts  to  run  through  the 
streets  and  is  pursued  by  a  drunken  man.  The  man 
looking  into  the  eye  of  God  recognizes  the  drunkard 
as  himself  and  the  child  as  his  daughter. 

"The  girl  runs  into  a  school-yard,  but  the  other 
children  turn  from  her,  saying:  'Her  father  is  a 
drunkard.' 

"The  child  flees  down  alleys  and  side  streets  but 
she  cannot  get  away  from  her  father.  She  goes  into 
a  store  and  asks  for  work  but  as  soon  as  the  pro- 
prietor learns  her  name  he  turns  her  away. 

"The  child  goes  to  a  home  and  asks  the  mistress 
for  work.  She  is  about  to  be  employed  when  a  drunken 
man  is  heard  raving  on  the  porch.  On  investigation 
the  man  is  found  to  be  the  child's  father.  So  the 

AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


88 

mistress  will  not  employ  her  and  turns  her  out  of 
doors. 

"As  the  child  steps  into  the  street  her  drunken 
father  grabs  her  by  the  hair  and  drags  her  down  the 
street  to  a  low  saloon  and  dance-house  where  he  sells 
her  honor  for  a  drink  of  whisky,  and  the  child  de- 
spite her  tears  and  moanings  is  started  hellward." 

"But,"  said  I  to  my  guide,  "did  the  father  actually 
sell  his  daughter  for  whisky?" 

"Not  actually  in  person,"  said  my  guide,  "but 
his  actions  while  he  lived  were  such  as  make  his  name 
a  hissing  and  scorning  among  men,  and  he  spent 
the  money  that  should  have  gone  to  support  his 
daughter  until  she  reached  the  years  of  discretion  for 
self-gratification,  then  when  the  child  asked  for 
work  the  remembrance  of  her  father's  evil  and  trifling 
life  deterred  men  and  women  from  trusting  the  child. 
And  God  holds  every  man  responsible  for  his  influ- 
ence." 

Then  I  knew  what  the  man  had  seen  when  he 
looked  through  God's  eye,  and  I  knew  why  he  was 
terrified.  And  I  prayed  that  we  would  know  the 
truth  ere  it  was  too  late. 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


WHY  WAS  MAN  CREATED? 


WHY  WAS  MANKIND  CREATED? 

"As  unto  the  bow  the  cord  is,  so  unto  the  man  is  woman, 
Though  she  bends  him  she  obeys  him,  though  she  draws 

him  still  she  follows, 
Useless  each  without  the  other." 


Let  us  look  into  the  reason  for  man's  creation. 
This  same  question  has  undoubtedly  come  to  every 
one  of  us.  Then  as  we  look  out  over  the  world  and 
see  sin  rampant  and  triumphant  we  feel  like  throw- 
ing up  our  hands  and  saying,  What's  the  use?  By 
so  saying  and  thinking  we  .become  as  broken  reeds 
to  our  children  instead  of  just  guides. 

If  we  want  our  children  to  grow  into  manhood  and 
womanhood  clean  lived  we  must  remember  that  home 
is  the  place  to  develop  character,  for  despite  all  our 
failings  our  children  believe  in  us  and  imitate  us 
until  it  is  too  late  for  them  to  recast  their  charac- 
ters. 

The  child  is  a  natural  interrogation  point.  It  is 
ever  asking  questions  which  you  cannot  answer.  If 
instead  of  putting  the  child  off,  you  go  to  the 
Bible  with  the  child  for  the  answer,  just  as  you 
frequently  go  to  the  dictionary,  you  and  your  child 
will  soon  find  out  why  man  was  created. 

Eternity  having  no  limitations  we  go  to  the  border- 
line of  our  capacity  to  think  and  call  that  the  be- 


READ,   THINK,    ACT! 


91 

• 
ginning.     In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens 

and  the  inhabitants  thereof.  There  was  war  in 
Heaven.  As  war  always  comes  from  selfishness,  we 
find  Lucifer,  chief  angel  of  light,  selfish,  desiring 
some  special  privilege,  which  is  the  strength  of  hell 
and  the  weakness  of  humanity.  God  having  no  pa- 
tience with  selfishness  cast  Lucifer  and  his  fol- 
lowers out  of  Heaven.  He  sent  them  into  a  far 
country  where  they  dwell  in  torment  of  recollection 
of  what  might  have  been.  And  to  this  day  every 
child  of  the  devil  is  a  selfish  seeker  after  privilege. 

As  there  is  neither  time  nor  space  in  eternity,  God 
set  apart  a  portion  of  eternity  and  called  it  time. 
To  time  He  set  limitations.  Time  was  created  for 
the  redemption  of  devils,  but  as  their  sin  had  been 
grievous,  their  tribulations  would  have  to  be  com- 
mensurate with  their  sin,  otherwise  their  rebellious 
desires  would  again  break  out.  For  example: 

There  were  three  farmer  families.  In  each  was  a 
son.  The  boys  grew  restless  and  ran  away  from 
home.  The  parents  of  the  first  boy  sent  a  policeman 
after  him  and  had  him  forced  back  home.  He  again 
grew  restless  and  ran  away  again.  This  time  he  went 
so  far  they  could  not  follow  him.  The  parents  of 
the  second  boy  went  after  him  themselves.  They 
made  great  ado  over  him.  They  promised  if  he 
would  only  "return  home  they  would  deed  him  the 
farm.  He  went  home,  had  the  farm  deeded  to  him- 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


92 

self,  then  he  made  life  a  hell  for  the  old  folks  and 
at  last  sent  them  to  the  poor  house.  The  parents  of 
the  third  boy  took  counsel  together.  Then  sent  word 
to  the  chief  of  police  to  keep  an  eye  on  their  son. 
They  allowed  him  to  taste  the  dregs  of  poverty;  then 
they  sent  a  messenger  to  him.  This  neighbor  told 
the  boy  some  plain,  wholesome  truths.  He  induced 
the  boy  to  return  home  and  ask  his  parents'  for- 
giveness. Forgiveness  was  freely  granted,  things 
moved  on  as  usual,  the  boy  had  his  lesson  and  every 
one  was  happy  ever  after. 

God  could  not  send  an  ambassador  to  hell  who  had 
fought  against  Lucifer  in  the  war  in  Heaven,  as  the 
devils  would  have  imprisoned  him  and  tormented 
him,  so  God  created  a  new  creature,  a  little  lower 
than  the  angels  and  sent  him  to  Lucifer  as  a  mes- 
senger. This  new  creature  God  called  "Man."  After 
a  thousand  years,  God,  seeing  that  man  was  unable 
to  fulfil  his  work,  created  woman  as  a  help  meet  for 
man's  great  destiny. 

What  great  power  did  God  give  woman  that  man 
does  not  possess?  He  gave  woman  a  stronger  moral 
nature  while  He  gave  her  a  weaker  physical  nature. 
Thus  woman  ever  clings  to  man,  but  her  eyes  are 
ever  on  the  cross.  That  brings  up  the  question,  Is 
woman  man's  moral  superior? 

The  greatest  organized  effort  for  morality  is  the 
Church.  This  is  so  of  whatever  creed  or  country. 


READ,  THINK,    ACT! 


93 

It  would  indeed  be  to  empty  benches  preachers  talked 
if  it  were  not  for  women. 

Who  manufacture  strong  drinks?  Men.  Who 
conduct  drinking  places?  Men.  Who  patronize  sa- 
loons? Men.  So  on  the  drink  question  we  find  that 
man  is  the  weaker  vessel. 

Who  manage  gambling  dens?  Men.  Who  patron- 
ize gambling?  Men.  While  it  is  true  that  some  of 
the  society  women  gamble  the  heavy  preponderance 
is  against  men. 

As  to  the  third  evil,  the  brothel,  a  casual  glance 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  woman  was  the  trans- 
gressor, but  a  full  investigation  will  prove  that  for 
every  woman  who  occupies  a  house  of  ill-fame  hun- 
dreds of  men  go  therein.  So  facts  compel  the 
acknowledgment  that  woman  is  morally  the  superior 
of  man.  Yet  she  should  not  gloat  thereover,  as  this 
greater  moral  strength  means  greater  moral  responsi- 
bility. And  those  mothers  who  dress  themselves  and 
daughters  in  such  suggestive  and  alluring  attire  as 
to  draw  the  minds  of  young  men  to  their  personal 
attractions  are  opening  the  gates  of  prostitution  to 
their  daughters. 

Let  us  go  a  bit  further  in  this  investigation.  Let 
us  go  to  the  grounds  of  any  school  where  the  toilets 
are  kept  separate.  Go  into  those  used  exclusively 
by  boys  and  you  will  find  the  walls  covered  with  vile 
and  filthy  pictures  and  rhymes  that  cling  to  and  cor- 


AGITATE,    EDUCATE,   ORGANIZE! 


94 

rode  the  mind.     This  condition  does  not  exist  in  the 
toilets  used  exclusively  by  girls. 

So  here,  close  to  the  cradle,  ere  the  despoiling  hand 
of  Environment  has  laid  hold  of  the  children,  we  find 
sure  evidence  that  God  created  woman  with  a  strong 
morality  for  the  drawing  of  men  to  clean  living. 
Mothers,  what  a  deep  damnation  will  be  yours  if  you 
neglect  your  talents! 


READ,    THINK,    ACT! 


Gaylord  Bros. 

Maker* 
Syracuse.  N.  Y. 

MT.  JAM.  21.  BK 


YC   15278 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


